MORAGA, Calif. – The San Francisco women's sand volleyball team concluded its inaugural season, dropping the match with Saint Mary's at Moraga Commons Tuesday.
Despite the 5-0 loss to the ninth-ranked Gaels, the Dons finish with a regular-season record of 5-3 in its first year of competition, a mark that is good for third overall in the Northern California Sand Volleyball Consortium. Three of USF's five pairs finished the year with a .500 mark or better in competition.
“From the first conditioning session at Ocean Beach at 6:30 a.m., to the first time we actually got the balls and were on the court to now the changes are tremendous,” co-head coach
Eyal Zimet said of the season. “It's been fun to follow the progress and see each tournament we are getting a little more consistent, adding some more tools to the toolbox, being able to deal with pressure situations that we haven't encountered before. It was great to see the team respond to it and we've had good success in teams of finishing the first season with a winning record.”
Two matches on the afternoon went to three sets, with the No. 4 pair of
Courtney Sabahi and
Malina Terrell starting off the day's action strong. Taking the first set 21-16, Sabahi finished the frame with an ace to give the Dons a 1-0 advantage in the match. USF fell in a scoring lull in the second set as Saint Mary's evened the match 1-1 heading into the third. After falling behind early, the Dons clawed back to get within one with the score at 5-4 in favor of the Gaels, but Saint Mary's went on a 6-1 run to gain control in the set before eventually winning 15-11 and taking the team point.
In the No. 5 match,
Mackenzie Murtagh and
Inbar Vinarsky picked up the win in the first set 21-14, but dropped the second 13-21 to force a decisive third frame. USF found itself behind 4-0 to start the set, but after three-straight points capped by a kill from Vinarsky, the Gaels' advantage was a narrow 7-6 lead. With USF down 11-9 in the set, Saint Mary's finished of the frame scoring four of the next six points to earn the match victory.
“There's not many girls that had played sand volleyball before so it was pretty new for everybody,” senior
Leanna Ludes, one of two soon-to-be almnae of the program, said of the experience in the sand. “I think we developed a lot as individual pairs and as a team as a whole, just starting to develop a culture at USF for sand volleyball. I think the team is going to be even better next year. They have a year under their belt and they're just going to keep improving.”
The Dons look forward to seeing their work on the sand translate onto the hardwood as the team looks ahead to the 2013 indoor season.
“We've seen it already in indoor practices,”
Gilad Doron, co-head coach of the sand program and leader of the indoor program said of the additional skills learned on the sand translating to the court. “I hope that we learned to stay focused, to have the mental toughness of the outdoor game challenging you, and hopefully when we go back inside the girls are going to move faster and jump higher. We're not the only ones doing it and benefitting from it, but hopefully for us it will help us get to where we want to be.”
The invaluable training that the young team has received on the sand during the spring has also prepared USF to continue building its sand volleyball program at a rapid pace, improving every step of the way.
“That's what the intent was, to build a good foundation for the future so we can be successful, and we can definitely see that,” Zimet said. “There is definitely lots of optimism for the next couple of years.”
“Our girls didn't give up, they fought hard, they learned, they were patient and they continued to get better,” added Doron. “As the only team that doesn't have courts on campus with everything on the road – I couldn't more proud. Hopefully this will be a good stepping stone.”
USF Pairs Season Records:
Mackenzie Murtagh/
Inbar Vinarsky – 5-3
Sara Staengle/
Valentina Zaloznik – 4-4
Courtney Sabahi/
Malina Terrell – 4-4
Rebecca Kopilovitch/
Jurja Vlasic – 3-5
Leanna Ludes/
Anja Segota – 1-7
Northern California Sand Volleyball Consortium Season Records:
Stanford – 7-1 (.875)
Saint Mary's – 8-2 (.800)
San Francisco – 5-3 (.625)
Pacific – 5-4 (.556)
Sacramento State – 2-6 (.250)
California – 1-7 (.143)
Santa Clara – 0-11 (.000)
Match Results:
No. 1 – Dalas Dodd/Jordan Shaw (SMC) def.
Sara Staengle/
Valentina Zaloznik (USF) – 21-14, 21-16
No. 2 – (SMC) def.
Rebecca Kopilovitch/
Jurja Vlasic (USF) – 21-13, 21-14
No. 3 – (SMC) def.
Leanna Ludes/
Anja Segota (USF) – 21-19, 21-14
No. 4 – (SMC) def.
Courtney Sabahi/
Malina Terrell (USF) – 16-21, 21-13, 15-11
No. 5 – (SMC) def.
Mackenzie Murtagh/
Inbar Vinarsky (USF) – 14-21, 21-13, 15-11
