SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The University of San Francisco women's volleyball team took the third set and avoided a sweep at the hands of No. 18 San Diego.  Unfortunately for the Dons, the Toreros won in four, defeating USF 3-1 (17-25, 23-25, 25-23, 16-25) Thursday afternoon at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
 
USF (5-5, 5-5 WCC) had a rough day on the attack. The Dons finished with 43 kills on 139 attempts with 24 errors for a .137 attack percentage.  Dons had just five players with a kill, Greta Corti finished with a match-high 18 kills and Orsula Staka had a career-high 10 kills, while hitting .450. Sophie Sydenham had a season-high seven kills and McKenna Marshall added seven as well.
 
No. 18 San Diego (10-0, 10-0 WCC) finished the day with 51 kills on 137 swings with 19 errors for a .234 attack percentage.  Three players finished in double figures in kills led by Roxie Wiblin's team-high 13. Grace Frohling and Katie Lukes had 12 each.  
 
"After a couple of tight sets in our first match against San Diego yesterday that didn't go our way, we broke through and took set three today," said head coach Frank Lavrisha. "It was a composed effort against a very good USD squad. Corti and Staka led the scoring today. Staka had her best match of the season hitting .450. Corti has steadily become a main cog in our offense and Sydenham was solid filling in on the right side. It could've been a much closer match if we hadn't missed as many serves in set two. Dalla Vecchia was a steadying force with her ball control both on service reception and defense, netting over five digs per set for the week."
 
The Dons attack did a better job of limiting errors.  USF finished with 24 over the four sets, however the outside duo of Corti and Marshall combined for 18 of the Dons' 24 attack errors.
 
The match was much tighter than yesterdays, with the two sides battling throughout the contest.  The Dons battled the Toreros to the tune of 17 ties and seven lead changes.  In the tight second set that eventually went the way of USF, the Dons battled with nine ties and three lead changes.
 
USF outhit the Toreros in that frame, .379 to .281, but USD was able to take the crucial 2-0 advantage thanks to eight USF service errors.
 
In the third game, the Dons cleaned up their mistakes. After falling behind 2-0 the Dons led the rest of the set and staved off the sweep on a kill by Marshall, one of her three kills in the game.  Marshall finished the day with seven kills overall.
 
In the fourth and final set a kill by Sophie Sydenham and Staka had the Dons out front 2-1 before the Toreros went on a 6-0 run to take a commanding lead in the frame, one they would not relinquish.  USD took the set and the match on a kill by Frohling.
 
The Dons will return to action on Friday, March 5 when they return home to the Hilltop for back-to-back matches against BYU.  Friday's match is slated for a 12:00 p.m. first serve.