Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO – For the first time in program history, the San Francisco women's volleyball team earned a season sweep against perennial powerhouse Pepperdine, as the Dons knocked off the visiting Waves in straight sets Thursday at War Memorial Gym.
USF (12-15, 8-9 WCC) made quick work of the match, winning the first set 26-24 and taking the second 25-23 before rolling to a 25-17 final set score in the third. The Dons downed Pepperdine in Malibu, 3-2, on Sept. 21, and can now boast the first season sweep against the Waves in school history. USF now boasts a three-game winning streak over Pepperdine after notching its sixth overall win in the 58-game all-time series.
"It means a lot to get this win," coach
Gilad Doron noted after the match. "Pepperdine is one of those powerhouses in the conference and Nina Matthies, who is going to retire after this year, has done an amazing job of always having that team in the top 25. Getting three in a row in the past year and a half is a credit to our players and to their determination. Today, the fans just watched a great volleyball match in War Memorial Gym."
USF was paced by three double-digit kill tallies. Freshman
Katarina Pilepic led the way with 13 kills on the night, including the final point of the match.
Valentina Zaloznik, a junior from Ljubno ob Savinji, Slovenia, added 12 kills on a .400 attack percentage and senior
Malina Terrell finished with 10 kills on 19 attempts.
Mackenzie Murtagh and
Jurja Vlasic split setting duties with Murtagh's 26 leading the way for the Dons. USF senior
Rebecca Kopilovitch finished with a team-high 18 digs and
Anja Segota added 11 in the victory.
The Dons were hot from from the outset, starting the match with a service ace from Murtagh, a senior from San Francisco. But two straight blocks by the Pepperdine pair of Taylor Racich and Samantha Cash gave the Waves their first lead at 8-7.
The intense first-set battle was close for the remainder of the way. With Pepperdine ahead 19-18 after a Cash kills, Zaloznik powered home an attack to the middle of the court to tie the set and start a 5-0 run. But the Waves would battle back to knot the score at 23-all and take the lead on the ensuing point. Another Zaloznik kill, her fifth of the night, again saw the score at a stalemate at 24 apiece. The Dons went on to finish out the set with a score of 26-24, as Pilepic and Terrell combined on a block to end the frame.
"We wanted to start strong," Doron explained. "We wanted to spread the ball around and the girls' energy today was great. How Ester set up the block, how Katarina and Valentina swung it, and how Becky was hustling and digging – everybody played their role the best that they could and we got contributions from almost everybody at key times. We stayed together, we played hard, and it was fun to watch our team play today."
Again striking first in the second set of the match, the Dons built an early 9-4 lead as Zaloznik's kill with an assist from Vlasic forced a Pepperdine timeout. The Waves regrouped to tie the score at 10-10, the first of six tie scores in the set. While the Waves never gained the advantage on the scoreboard, the last tie in the frame came at 21 apiece after a kill from Cash. USF reeled off three-straight points to take it to set point, but Pepperdine got the next two to get the score to 24-23 and force a USF timeout. After the break in the action, Cash faltered at the serve, burying the ball into the net to send the game to halftime.
The Waves continued to keep it close to begin the third, but a 6-1 USF run capped by an
Ester de Vries kill to the back line put the score at 18-13 in favor of the Dons. The USF advantage remained at five points when
Inbar Vinarsky's floater over the defense made it 20-15. USF closed the set and the match by scoring the last five points of the night. Zaloznik powered home a hard kill to the middle to give the Dons its 23rd point, and picked up another when she stuffed a free ball down to the Waves side of the court. Pilepic's pound to close out the match sent the Dons' bench to celebrate on the court after the historic win.
USF will close out the regular season on Saturday, as the Dons face Loyola Marymount at 1 p.m., in the final WCC match of the season on Senior Day.
"LMU is a different type of team," Doron said. "They play a faster tempo, they play great defense and they serve really well. But if our team comes to play like they did today and our mindset is to play the next ball, then we are pretty tough. Hopefully, we can do it one more time with our seniors on the court. We plan to finish 2013 strong."
