SAN FRANCISCO – Propelled by one of its best complete matches of the season, San Francisco upended the visiting San Diego Toreros in sweeping fashion Thursday night at War Memorial Gym.

With the win, USF improves to 12-11 on the season and 5-6 in West Coast Conference play. San Diego, who entered the weekend receiving votes in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll, moves to 15-8 (8-3 WCC) as the Dons snapped their six-match winning streak. USF now stands at 7-1 at home on the year.

"I was tired of playing lame, and that's why I came with a different shirt. I said I'm coming for a party today," joked head coach Gilad Doron, in his button-down dress shirt. "We wanted to come out aggressive, we wanted to make sure we got everybody involved. I think today we came together and played as a unit and not individuals and we looked pretty good out there against a really solid San Diego team. It was definitely great for our team and probably the best win we've had this year. We had to play that way in order to beat a really good San Diego team, and I'm proud of our team."

The Dons hit an impressive .400 as a team, boosted by 13 kills apiece from Anja Segota and Katarina Pilepic. Segota, a senior from Pula, Croatia, finished with match-highs of a hitting percentage of .500 and nine digs along with three service aces in the three-setter. Valentina Zaloznik continued her solid senior campaign with her fifth-straight match with double-digit kills, 15th of the season. She tallied 10 kills and three blocks for USF. Sophomore setter Kiara McKibben assisted on 40 of USF's 49 scoring plays in the Dons' victory.

"I think because we passed the ball really well, we had all the options in play to hit well," said Doron. "Everybody came and was aggressive and picked the right things. You got to give the credit to the passing unit, you've got to give the credit to Kiara for making the right choices and you've got to give the credit to the hitters to find the right lines."

The first set was a battle from the outset, as the Dons and the Toreros where tied 19 times in the frame, with the lead changing hands on eight occasions. Zaloznik's crosscourt kill to the back corner knotted the game at seven apiece, and two points later Segota floated a ball over the defense for the point to retie the set. With the frame again evened at 13-13, Jessica Gaffney scored the solo stuff to put the Dons back on top. Zaloznik's shove to the back corner again tied the frame at 15 apiece, and after a San Diego attack error, McKibben's kill gave USF the two-point advantage.

The see-saw battle continued when Pilepic rocketed down the attack for the point at 22-21 in favor of the home team, and USF would score the final three points of the frame to take the first 25-22.

The Dons opened the second set with a 7-4 lead after Zaloznik kept the ball alive at the net and the San Diego defense wasn't prepared to receive. The Toreros closed the gap and pulled even with USF before Pilepic's rocket to the back row put the Dons up 9-8. San Diego would go on to edge to a 20-19 advantage late in the frame off of Alaysia Brown's attack, but a service error was followed by another Pilepic point to give the Dons the lead and force San Diego to take a timeout. Segota got the call after the break and USF scored five of the last six points in the set to win 25-21 and send USF into halftime with a commanding lead.

After the break, the Dons were unstoppable.

With Segota at the serve, the Dons raced out to a 7-0 lead and never looked back. Kim Gutierrez added two aces on USF's next possession at the service line and the Dons increased the advantage to 11-1.  After a Zaloznik attack made the score 13-3, the Toreros strung together the next five points to for a USF timeout. The Dons remained on the attack in the frame, and finished off the Toreros on a second-touch kill from McKibben and a final score of 25-21 in the set.

"I think we started well and they changed up their rotation looking for something and it just didn't work," explained Doron. "You've got to give credit to our servers. In games one and two we missed more serves than we got in. In the third, Anja got a really big run and Kim got a big run, and that's what happens when you know to serve your targets. All of the sudden it was an open game, but you've got to give credit to San Diego – they came back and rallied, and I'm happy to close it the way we did."

Next, USF meets up with No. 11 BYU in the Dons' sixth match of the season against a ranked opponent. The Dons are 0-5 in those matches, including an early-season 3-1 loss in Provo at the hands of the Cougars, who outblocked the Dons 24 to three in that match. In eight tries in the all-time series, the Dons have never beaten BYU.

"It's going to take this kind of effort, or more, Saturday," said Doron. "They're bigger and more physical, and they are a team the blocks great but if we play the way we played tonight, we give ourselves a chance."

USF welcomes the Cougars to War Memorial Gym Saturday at 1 p.m., and the match will be broadcast live on theW.tv.