Box Score
SAN FRANCISCO – Despite furious defensive rallies and solid offensive output, the San Francisco women's volleyball team fell to Miami 3-0 to close out the Bay Area Challenge Saturday at War Memorial Gym.
The Dons were paced by a pair of players with double-digit kills, as
Malina Terrell led the squad with 14 kills and a .345 attack percentage and freshman
Katarina Pilepic added 10 kills on 21 attempts.
Mackenzie Murtagh and
Kiara McKibben split setting duties with Murtagh finishing with 19 to lead the Dons.
Rebecca Kopilovitch posted a match-high 19 digs in the contest.
Miami was led by Bay Area native Savannah Leaf, who finished the night one dig away from a double-double after a 15-kill, nine-dig effort on the night. With the win, the Hurricanes move to 4-1 on the season, and USF comes out of the weekend with a 1-4 mark on the season.
"The competition that we had this weekend was excellent," associate coach
Ken Ko said after the match. "So tonight we played great, but Miami played greater. It's just a function of competition. We need to continue to play at a high level and we need to find ways to do things to disrupt our opponent and to make them a little bit more uncomfortable. That's kind of the secret for us. It was great to get our first win this morning, and we did it in three sets. Our team took a huge step."
The Dons led the first set from the start as
Anja Segota and
Valentina Zaloznik combined for a block on the first play of the night. The see-saw set was tied on 10 occasions with the last locked score occurring at 22-22 after a Miami service error. However the Hurricanes scored three straight to end the frame 25-22.
The second set stayed tightly contested through the 12-12 mark before a 7-2 Hurricane run punctuated by an Alexis Mourning kill broke open the set for the visitors. Miami ended the set with a score of 25-17 heading into halftime. Freshman
Emily Reed, from Sunnyvale, Calif., entered the game in the second to earn her first collegiate action on the court.
The Dons continued their tightly contested match in the third finding themselves knotted at 7-7 before a 7-2 USF run was capped by a kill from
Inbar Vinarsky, with the assist credited to McKibben. Miami knotted the score at 20 apiece after blocking
Whitney Swain's attempt, that was followed by a kill by Terrell, assisted by
Rebecca Kopilovitch. Along with McKibben's 12 assists, the freshman from Colorado Springs, Colo., capitalized on a scoring opportunity late in the third set to earn a kill and tie the game at 22-22. The Hurricanes closed out the set and the match with the final three points to come away with the straight-set victory.
"I think the strength of the competition we played so far this season prepares us well," Ko said. "San Diego State will be very tough as will our other opponents. Nobody goes to tournaments to lose so we need to be ready. But we're looking forward to more great volleyball."
The Dons are back in action Friday, playing SMU and Northeastern in the Aztec Invitational in San Diego, Calif., where USF will play four matches in two days.
