Box Score
PORTLAND, Ore. – A hard-fought match by the San Francisco volleyball team gave head coach
Gilad Doron a milestone victory. The Dons defeated the Pilots 3-1 in a Halloween matchup on TheW.tv at the Chiles Center.
With the victory, the Dons boast a four-game winning streak, USF's longest stretch in conference action since 2008. The win moves USF to 11-10 overall, as the team improves to 7-4 in West Coast Conference action, to remain firmly in fourth in the league standings.
For Doron, in his seventh season on the Hilltop, the victory is his 100th at the helm of the USF program.
"I'm happy to get this one," Doron said after the victory. "I'm thankful for all the great players I've had the opportunity to coach who go out there and play hard every match to put me in this position. I'm thankful for my assistants who've been there day in and day out over the year and to USF for trusting me and enjoying the results of our program. Hopefully, we can keep this going and the next hundred won't take as long as this hundred did."
Anja Segota posted her first double-double of the season, leading the Dons with 22 total points and 16 kills. The junior from Pula, Croatia, added 15 digs, five total blocks- three solo, and two service aces in the outing.
Ester de Vries also finished with a double-double effort after posting 10 kills and 11 digs in the four-set match.
"Anja has been playing great, and I was happy to see her take a lead role today and settle the team down," Doron said. "Ester was good as well. Everybody on our roster including our freshmen, Courtney [Sabahi] and Sophie [Kuehl], came in and made positive contributions at critical times in the match."
From the outset of the competition, it was apparent that the winless Pilots wouldn't go down easily at home. The opening set of the night saw 17 ties, seven lead changes and a slew of extra points before the Dons finished off the frame 33-31.
Portland's Autumn Wedan earned a kill to even up the score at 23 apiece and a service ace by the home team on the ensuing play gave the Pilots the first attempt at set point. However the Dons would tie it up to force extra points after a ball by
Malina Terrell found the floor. Portland again edged to the lead for its second of six tries at set point. USF capitalized on its only attempt at ending the frame as
Kiara McKibben set up Terrell for the final point in the first.
Portland regrouped to win the second 25-23, in another close see-saw battle. The Pilots looked to have momentum in the frame with the score at 22-16, but the Dons rolled off four in a row to tighten the score late in the set. An attack error by Portland's Wedan forced a timeout with the score knotted at 23-23, and gave the Pilots the opportunity to regain their composure. Two straight kills by Emily Liger finished off the set and tied the match heading into halftime.
For the third-straight set, Portland scored first after the halftime break, but the Dons raced into the lead on a Terrell ace that set the score at 4-3 in favor of USF. A 13-6 run ensued as Segota's solo stuff capped the run as the Dons grew its lead to 17-9. Later in the set, the Pilots closed the gap to three with Brittney Markwith at the serve for the home team. But the Dons found a way to close the frame as McKibben's hard-hit serve into the net rolled over the tape for the ace and the 25-21 set win.
Again in the fourth, the Pilots scored first off the hand of Wedan. Portland owned the lead for much of the last set until a 4-0 USF run with Kuehl at the serve tied the score at 15-15. The set stayed close with the last tie of the night coming on a Wedan ace that was just inside the line. A Segota kill on the backset from
Mackenzie Murtagh started a five-point run for the Dons.
Katarina Pilepic closed out the match as she pushed the ball to the back corner, dropping in far away from the Pilots defense to give USF a 25-22 victory.
"We have to give credit to Portland, Wedan and Makayla [Lindburg] had an amazing match," Doron said. "We got lucky here. Obviously it's a great team effort, but we definitely had to earn this one."
Wedan, who averages a WCC-leading 4.55 kills per set, finished the night with a match-high 26 kills and 17 digs. Lindburg added 19 kills in the match for the Pilots.
The Dons continue the trip through the Pacific Northwest as the team heads to Spokane, Wash., to face off with Gonzaga Saturday at 12 p.m.
"We're going to have to be ready," Doron said of the match with the Bulldogs. "Hopefully we'll play with more energy and focus, hit better, pass better and especially block better. I think the girls understand the full meaning of each game as the season goes on. Portland gave us their best, and this is the best lesson we can learn – to be ready for every opponent."
