SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco volleyball team closed out the 2014 campaign bidding farewell to two seniors playing their last match. A pair of Dons,
Anja Segota and
Valentina Zaloznik, took to the court at War Memorial Gym for the last time of their collegiate career.
"It's bittersweet, the last game," Doron reflected after the match. "Both Anja and Val played a big part in our program for the last four years. We're going to miss both of them. They've been such a great part of our rejuvenated, improved Dons but we're going to be stronger going forward because of what they have taught us and what we have learned from them."
For Zaloznik, the senior middle blocker from Ljubno ob Savinji, Slovenia, leaves the Hilltop with a plethora of conference accolades and a laundry list of stats for the USF record books. After leading the Dons with 14 kills and 12 digs on Tuesday night, Zaloznik has tallied 1,194 kills, 427 total blocks, 392 digs and 111 service aces. Her career blocks figure rates as second in USF history, and she's in the top ten in career aces (5th), solo blocks (6th) and kills (7th). Along with multiple career and single-season accomplishments, Zaloznik recorded a single-match record after hitting .929 in USF's sweep of Fordham this season.
Less decorated statistically, but no less important to the team, Segota has made a deep impact in her four years at USF. The senior outside/opposite hitter from Pula, Croatia, has tallied 602 career kills along with 102 total blocks and 58 service aces. She was named to the USF All-Tournament team in the opening weekend of her senior campaign as the Dons went 3-0 against stout competition.
Despite the seasoned leadership provided by Zaloznik in Tuesday's match, the Dons succumbed to Pacific 3-1. USF finishes the season with a record of 12-18 (5-13 WCC), while Pacific closed the year strong to stand at 24-7 overall, and 13-5 in WCC action, taking second in the league standings.
Pacific edged out to the halftime lead in the match after taking the first set by a score of 25-20 and the second 25-17. After the break, the Dons were ready to rumble, and USF nabbed the 9-8 lead off a kill from
Emily Reed off the assist from
Kiara McKibben. With Zaloznik at the serve, the Dons notched the next four points in the frame to grow the lead to 13-8. The Tigers wold claw back to tie late in the frame after Ajicja Wilk's kill made it 18-all. USF went on to take the 25-22 win after
Oluoma Okaro powered down the final point of the set.
"Val, being her usual self, she came here and said I'm going to give it my best and she had another stellar performance," Doron said. "At some point, I just felt like she deserved to stay there on the court the whole time and she willed a very young team to win game three. We just kind of fell short in game four, but we'll learn from it and we'll get stronger."
The fourth set was ripe for the taking, and the Dons owned an 18-14 lead after a kill from Zaloznik. Yet again, Pacific rallied to tie at 19-19, and overtook the Dons with Kimmy Whitson manning the service line. The Tigers won the set 25-21 to close out the Dons' season, as Pacific awaits their potential postseason fate. Despite the rough close to the year, Doron is looking toward the future and sees building blocks from the early-season successes in 2014.
"I think we started well, but once some injuries hit us it was really, really tough," he said. "I've got to give our team tons of credit for sticking together, for fighting through. We play in an incredible conference, and we can't forget from some of the wins that we had this year versus some really quality opponents. We had some great moments here at War Memorial Gym, beating San Diego and Santa Clara and Saint Mary's.
"But we want more. We want to be better, and we want to be part of the bigger picture. This is hopefully going to be a start of something that's going to drive this team into the offseason to come so much better next year. That's our hope and that's our goal."
