University of San Francisco Athletics

Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO – With a well-rounded team effort, the University of San Francisco volleyball team powered its way to a three-set sweep of Portland Saturday afternoon at War Memorial Gym.

With identical set scores of 25-19, 25-19, 25-19, USF rebounded from Thursday night's heartbreaker with Gonzaga to move to 7-8 on the season, and improve to 3-2 in West Coast Conference play.
Earning her first start since being sidelined for nearly all of September due to injury, senior Malina Terrell led the Dons with 14 kills on an effective .560 hitting percentage. Katarina Pilepic, a freshman from Novi Vonodolski, Croatia, added 10 kills and Valentina Zaloznik added 10 points on the day with six kills, two service aces and two solo blocks.

"We got more players involved today that could score in different times, and we were more balanced and that's what got us to be more effective," head coach Gilad Doron said. "I think our team is pretty confident – every time we take care of the ball on our side of the net we can do nice things. I thought the setters played well and smart today and put players in good situations to score."

Mackenzie Murtagh finished with a team-high 17 sets with Kiara McKibben adding 14 assists in the match. Other statistical leaders include Rebecca Kopilovitch's match-high 16 digs and four total blocks by Inbar Vinarsky. The Dons finished with a season-high .363 attack percentage in the match.

After the Pilots scored the first point of the afternoon, the Dons scored the next four points to build their first lead of the day. USF continued to roll through the set getting the score to 9-5 after two straight attack errors from Portland's Autumn Wedan. A floater by Terrell went over the block and fell to the floor to make it 15-9, and a Murtagh backset for a big cross-court kill by Pilepic gave USF the 16-9 advantage. USF finished the frame by a score of 25-19 with Terrell picking up six kills on nine attempts in the first set.

The second set began in much of the same fashion as the Dons opened up to a 5-3 lead after a blast from Pilepic. But Portland regrouped to tie the match at 8-8 after a service ace by Christina Harris. Anja Segota's kill broke the tie in favor of the Dons and USF went on 8-3 run of its own to regain a five-point advantage. With the score at 21-16, the Pilots rolled off the next three points in the match to force a USF timeout. Back from the break in action the Dons defense clamped down to not allow another point in the set by the visitors as back-to-back kills by Ester de Vries gave USF the 25-19 set victory heading into halftime.

USF completed the sweep by continuing to apply pressure in the third scoring the first four points after a de Vries kill to the back row led to a Pilots timeout. After the Dons grew the lead to 6-1, Portland came back with a vengeance to knot the set at 13 apiece. On the ensuing play, the Pilots took their only lead of the contest after Portland's Makayla Lindburg stuffed a free ball to the floor.  

However, USF rallied again for the lead and earned a 24-17 match point after a McKibben serve was mishandled on the set. A Portland point followed by an ace off the serve of Djurdjina Milovic extended the match, but Milovic's service error into the net iced the game with another 25-19 set score.

Wedan led Portland with 11 kills on the day, but the senior leader for the Pilots only managed .091 hitting against USF's defense. Heading into the weekend, Wedan was leading the WCC and was ranked 10th in the nation with an average of 4.61 kills per set. The Pilots move to 0-15 (0-6 WCC) on the season as Portland still seeks its elusive first win of the year.

"I thought we played well today and responded to a tough one on Thursday," Doron said. "The girls played with energy, they didn't wait and they went at it from the start, and they finished. We needed to win today and that's the most important thing. We're 3-2 in conference going on the road to two of the toughest places right now. Hopefully, we gained some confidence and we can go up and see what we can do against the best."

Next, he Dons head out for a two-game road swing through some of the WCC's strongest competition. First USF travels to No. 16 San Diego for a Thursday night tussle, and then turns around to play BYU, undefeated in WCC play, Saturday in Provo, Utah. First serve against the Toreros is scheduled for 7 p.m.