DENVER, Colo. – For the second straight match, the San Francisco volleyball team played the full complement of five sets in Denver. In Saturday's morning match against UTEP, the Dons gutted out a 3-2 victory over the Miners.
The Dons were helped by a career-high 10 kills from
Inbar Vinarsky, to go along with four blocks.
Valentina Zaloznik continued her senior campaign with 13 kills on .346 hitting, and the Dons were paced offensively by
Katarina Pilepic's 15 kills. Colorado Springs, Colo., native
Kiara McKibben finished with a match-high 39 assists and
Kim Gutierrez held down the USF defensive effort with a match-high 28 digs.
Despite being outhit and finishing with a .141 attack percentage in the contest, the Dons found a way to pull together for the victorious effort. With the win, USF advances its overall record to 6-5 while UTEP drops to 2-8 on the season.
USF opened the day with a wire-to-wire win in the first set, downing the Miners, 25-20. With McKibben at the serve, the Dons raced out to a 4-0 advantage, and Zaloznik's service ace put UTEP in a 10-4 deficit and forced a Miners' timeout. The Dons would close out the first with a kill from Vinarsky to cap the dominant opening set to the match.
The second set was marked by 10 tie scores and four lead changes. UTEP opened with the first point on the block, but an ensuing service error, one of 12 in the match, gave the Dons back the ball. After trailing 8-5, USF battled to knot the set at nine, and then 10 apiece. With
Jessica Gaffney at the service line, the Dons edged out to at 15-12 advantage after Zaloznik's attack found its mark. Pilepic widened the margin to four points and forced a UTEP timeout with the score at 18-14. After the break, the Miners raced back to tie the set at 20-20 before overtaking the Dons to earn a 25-22 victory in the frame.
USF fell behind early in the third set. Staring at a 4-1 deficit, the Dons regained their composure and the lead with Pilepic at the serve. A kill from
Anja Segota put the score at 6-5 in favor of the Dons and USF would widen the gap to 11-6 after reeling off five of the next six points. The lead grew to 17-12 when Pilepic and Vinarsky combined to deny the attack from UTEP's Coline Coessens. The Miners scratched back to a score of 20-all, but the Dons closed the frame 25-21 on a kill from Zaloznik.
The Dons were in a game of cat and mouse in the fourth set, always within reach, but never quite able to overtake the Miners. Midway through the frame, USF was down 13-12, but the offense stalled with Coessens manning the serve for UTEP as the Miners strung together a 7-0 run to jump out to a sizeable advantage. The Dons eventually fell 25-18 in the set to force the match to a decisive fifth set.
Pilepic gave the Dons their first point in the final set, and the action stayed close when Vinarsky's kill tied it at 4-4. With McKibben toeing the line, USF scored the next three points to boost the Dons to a lead and the team never looked back. A kill from UTEP's Dominique Millette was followed by a USF attack error to tighten USF's lead to 10-8 before the Dons turned on the jets. Kills by Segota and Pilepic were followed by two straight UTEP attack errors to force match point. Pilepic finished out the frame with a kill to give the Dons a 15-8 victory, their first five-set win of the season.
The win stops a five-game skid and guarantees USF will finish its non-conference slate with a .500 record or better.
The Dons finish their non-conference schedule with a second match of the day, facing off against Nevada at 4 p.m. PT.
