PORTLAND, Ore. – Much like the first meeting of the season, it took five sets to decide Thursday night's match between the San Francisco Dons and the Portland Pilots. And similar to the result nearly a month ago, the home team prevailed as the Pilots hung on for a 3-2 victory at the Chiles Center.
The Dons were paced by a season- and career-high 15 kills for freshman
Oluoma Okaro, who hit a team-high .294 on the night. Senior captain
Valentina Zaloznik also finished with 15 kills to go along with three blocks. Sophomore setter
Kiara McKibben compiled 51 assists and a career-high 23 digs. Also netting 23 digs on the evening, libero
Kim Gutierrez registered a career-high seven assists as well.
For the Dons, the loss snaps a six-match winning streak over Portland in the all-time series and USF moves to 12-13 (5-8, West Coast Conference). Portland's win is its first of the season in WCC action, as the Pilots now stand at 6-17 (1-11 WCC).
The first set went the way of Portland, 25-20, and the Dons scratched back to even the match in the second. After squeaking out a 27-25 win in the frame, the Pilots rallied after the halftime break to again regain the overall advantage. The fourth set went to the Dons, 25-22, before Portland gutted out the 15-12 victory in the decisive fifth set. The Pilots, who averaged .229 hitting on the night, performed best in the final frame, compiling a .368 hitting average and committing only two errors.
Along with holding a .229 to .188 hitting advantage, Portland finished with the 68 to 59 lead in assists, a 10.5 to 6.0 margin in total blocks and served in seven aces, compared to USF's one. Four Portland hitters surpassed the double-digit kill tally, lead by Bea Loper's 18 kills on .412 hitting. The road loss continues the trend of the season for the Dons where USF is 1-9 away from the Hilltop heading into the closing stretch of the season.
Next, the Dons travel to Gonzaga to take on a Bulldogs squad also reeling from a five-set loss. USF and Gonzaga meet up at the Martin Centre Saturday at 12 p.m.
