MALIBU, Calif. – With a balanced offensive attack and stout defense, the San Francisco volleyball team powered to a 3-1 win over Pepperdine Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse.
The Dons got three double-double performances on the day, with
Katarina Pilepic's 15 kills and 12 digs leading the attack.
Sara Staengle finished with a match-high .500 attack percentage as she raced to her first career double-double of 13 kills and 10 digs. The third double-double of the day came from sophomore setter
Kiara McKibben, who finished with 42 assists and 10 digs, her ninth double-double of the season.
Senior leader
Valentina Zaloznik added 13 kills on the day and ups her all-time tally to 1,071 kills moving her into seventh in the USF record books. The defensive effort was led by libero
Kim Gutierrez, who tallied 27 digs and nine assists. The Dons notched 10 team blocks, compared to Pepperdine's six on the day. In addition to holding the team advantage in blocks, assists and digs, USF outhit the Waves .286 to .217 on the day.
"It was a great win for us today," said head coach
Gilad Doron. "It was really nice to see the team rebound after a tough match at LMU, and we had some key contributions from different players today, and that really made a big difference in the match."
With the win, USF improves to 11-9 on the season, and 4-4 in West Coast Conference play, while the Waves fall to 7-13, (2-6 WCC). The Dons have now taken the last four matches against Pepperdine, and the win in Malibu is just the third for USF in the all-time series that dates back to 1985. All three victories for USF at Firestone Fieldhouse have occurred in the Doron era.
Pepperdine opened up the first set with the 9-4 lead before the Dons hung tough and battled back to knot the score after four straight points put it at 18-all. USF nabbed the 20-19 lead on a kill from McKibben with the assist credited to
Inbar Vinarsky, and never relinquished in the 25-23 first set win.
In the second, the tables were turned with all momentum finding its way to the Waves. Once Pepperdine broke a 3-3 tie, the Waves rolled to the 25-18 victory to tie the match heading into halftime.
After the break, the Dons went on the offensive and raced out to a 7-4 advantage as
Emily Reed's laser went down for the point, followed by a line drive strike from
Anja Segota. After Pepperdine managed to pull within 12-10, The Dons went on a 7-2 run punctuated by back-to-back strikes by Zaloznik. The Dons went on to take a 25-19 win in the frame, and set the Waves on their heels.
After a quick 3-1 start for the Dons, Pepperdine turned on the jets in an attempt to force a fifth set. The Waves scored seven straight points as Katie Messing pounded three consecutive points as the home squad jumped out to a 9-4 lead. The Dons rallied back to tie the frame at 11-all after a Zaloznik swing and regained the lead after miscommunication befell the Waves' offense.
The set would stay tight going down the stretch as a block by Pepperdine's Samantha Cash and Jillian Bergeson put the score at 16-16. Two straight points from the hand of Staengle gave the Dons the lead for good, and USF finished the frame with the final four points.
Oluoma Okaro pounded the penultimate point and then combined with
Anja Segota on the block to close the frame with a 25-20 win.
"We got a lot of contributions from the full roster – Sara, Anja, Ollie and Kim were really solid for us, and Val stepped it up after the second set," said Doron. "I think this game will help our team have confidence in each other to know that we have people will step up and get the job done, especially on the road. As you can see from this weekend's results, everyone is very even in this conference and we've just got to play our game and take care of our side. The WCC is still really open, and that's a good thing."
The Dons continue their longest road stretch of the season, but in closer-to-home locales. Next, USF travels to Stockton to meet up with Pacific on Thursday at 7 p.m.
