DENVER, Colo. – In its first five-set match of 2014, the San Francisco volleyball team rallied with a valiant comeback bid before falling 3-2 to Denver Friday night.

The Dons fell behind 2-0 in the match before winning the third and fourth sets to knot the score. After leading for the early stages of the fifth set, Denver regained the lead and hung on to win, 25-20, 30-28, 24-26, 22-25, 15-13. With the win, the Pioneers now stand at 9-3 on the season while USF moves to 5-5.

The Dons were led by four performers tallying double-digit kills. Senior Valentina Zaloznik led the charge for USF with 14 kills on a .483 attack percentage and seven total blocks, including four solo stuffs. Fellow upperclassman Anja Segota tallied a double-double of 13 kills and 15 digs, her team-high fifth of the year.

Freshman Jessica Gaffney added 14 kills and Katarina Pilepic contributed 12 kills in the loss. Kim Gutierrez paced the team with a match-high 22 digs. Two USF players netted career-highs in the match, with Jurja Vlasic posting 30 assists and Inbar Vinarsky blocking eight balls for the Dons.

Denver sophomore Ruth Okoye went off for an unexpected career-high 27 kills on .444 hitting to lead the Pioneers to victory.

Okoye opened the match with the evening's first point for Denver as the Pioneers jumped to a 4-2 advantage early in the first. In the The Dons tied the match at 10-all as Gaffney notched the kill, assisted by Kiara McKibben. Denver again edged out to a lead with the score at 15-13, but USF battled to square the contest at 17 apiece as Zaloznik recorded a solo block off the attempt from Okoye. Denver would go on to take the set 25-20.

The second frame was hotly-contested, featuring 19 ties and nine lead changes. The score was never more than a two point margin, and USF held the slim 23-21 advantage after three straight points from the Dons with two Zaloznik kills sandwiching a McKibben service ace. However, the Pioneers would battle to the tie at 23-all and force a USF timeout. After the break, Pilepic notched the kill to make it set point, but Denver's Moni Corrujedo answered. USF found itself with other set point opportunities with the score at 25-24, 26-25, and 28-27 before Denver reeled off the final three points in the frame to claw out the win.

The Dons started the third set with a vengeance, racing out to a 9-7 lead that grew to a 13-9 lead after an attack error from Nola Basey. Despite their deficit, Denver rallied to tie the set at 15 and managed to get a one pint lead with the score at 17-16 in favor of the home team. After a Pioneers attack error, the Dons regained the advantage on a solo stuff from Pilepic and never trailed again in the frame, winning 26-24.

USF kept the momentum firmly rolling in the fourth, and Segota's kill with the assist to Gutierrez made it 11-6 in favor of the Dons. USF kept the sizeable lead for the duration, as Zaloznik's block of Erica Denney made it 16-10 and her kill off the assist from McKibben put the score at 18-13. The Dons would go on to finish the frame by a final tally of 25-22 to force a fifth set.

The Dons got on the board first in their first five-set match of the season with Vlasic at the serve.  USF eased out to a 5-2 advantage on a kill from Oluoma Okaro, but Denver would go on to score the next four points in the set to take the lead. The Dons battled back, and back-to-back kills from Pilepic put the score at 9-7 with the Dons on top. After ties at 10, 11, and 12 apiece, Denver scored three of the final four points of the match to scrape out a win in front of their home crowd, despite the furious comeback bid on the night.

Next, USF will face UTEP Saturday at 9 a.m. PT, before closing out its non-conference slate against Nevada at 4 p.m., from Denver's Hamilton Gymnasium.