SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The University of San Francisco women's sand volleyball team notched its historic first win in program history Friday.
USF overcame tumultuous conditions that resulted in a wind advisory in the area after wind speeds were clocked at more than 25 miles per hour in Sacramento. But the Dons were undeterred, as the team needed all five matches against Sacramento State to earn the 3-2 victory.
“Today was a total team effort,” said co-head coach
Gilad Doron. “Our girls have really grown in the last week since our opening match at Saint Mary's, and I'm really proud of our efforts to get the first win ever for USF.”
Heading into the final match with the overall score tied at 2-2, it was up to USF's No. 1 pair of
Valentina Zaloznik and
Sara Staengle to decide the outcome of the day. Zaloznik and Staengle lived up to their top billing, finishing off the Hornets 21-17, 21-18 to close the match in favor of the Dons.
The No. 5 pairing of
Inbar Vinarsky and
Mackenzie Murtagh started the action with a two-set win. Vinarsky and Murtagh notched what would be the largest set margin of the day to start the competition, in the 21-11, 21-16 victory.
Malina Terrell and
Courtney Sabahi, playing from the No. 4 position, also earned a point for the Dons taking their match 21-18, 21-16 to put USF up 2-0 over the Hornets after the first two matches.
Sacramento State evened the overall score at two apiece after taking both the No. 2 and 3 matches from USF. The pairing of
Anja Segota and
Leanna Ludes dropped their first set 18-21 before rallying in the second. In the third, Sacramento State pulled out the 9-15 win at the No. 3 position. Similarly, the team of
Jurja Vlasic and
Rebecca Kopilovitch fell behind in the first set before knotting the match after two. The third-set battle was close, but USF's No. 2 team eventually fell 13-15 to the Hornets.
The Dons next face off with Cal on April 5. In the indoor season, USF took down the nationally-ranked Bears on two occasions, with the first coming as Doron became the winningest coach in program history on Sept. 1, 2012.
