LONG BEACH, Calif. – The San Francisco volleyball team dispatched Army 3-0 in the Long Beach State Mizuno Invitational Saturday afternoon to remain unbeaten on the season.
USF now stands at 5-0 on the year while Army drops to 2-5. The sweep of the Knights is the third recorded on the season, and the Dons now ride an seven game winning streak dating back to the final weekend of the 2013 campaign.
The Dons were again led with balanced scoring from the floor as three women notched 10 kills each in the victory. Senior Valentina Zaloznik added five total blocks and two aces to her tally as well. Katarina Pilepic, a sophomore from Novi Vinodolski, Croatia, compiled a team-leading .571 attack percentage in the match, and Anja Segota added six digs to her stat line. A consistent force early in her senior season, Segota has compiled double-digit kill tallies in each of USF's five matches. Two USF setters finished with double-digit marks, as Kiara McKibben helped on 26 points while Jurja Vlasic added 10 assists on the day.
As a team, the Dons outhit Army .344 to .118 to make quick work of the Knights at Walter Pyramid. In the first set, Pilepic opened the day with a kill for the Dons as USF jumped out to an early 4-0 and then 7-2 advantage. Army battled back to nab a 12-10 lead in the set as Carolyn Bockrath and Nicole Perri combined for the block. A service ace from Kim Gutierrez gave the Dons a 13-12 advantage as part of an 8-1 run that put USF back in the driver's seat. With Segota at the serve, Gutierrez assisted Pilepic for the final point in the set as the Dons pulled out a 25-19 victory.
With momentum in the favor of USF, the Dons never trailed in the frame. USF jumped out to a 9-4 lead that was extended to a 14-6 advantage midway through the set. A service ace by Zaloznik widened the gap to 20-13 and forced Army into a timeout before the Dons went on to win 25-14. Freshman Oluoma Okaro, from nearby Lakewood, Calif., earned the final point in the set off an assist from Vlasic.
Army opened the third and final set with the first two points before the Dons got on the board. With freshman Jessica Gaffney at the serve, the Dons got the 5-4 lead that extended to 8-4 on a kill from Zaloznik. The Dons continued to hold the advantage throughout the remainder of the action, closing again with a kill from Okaro off the assist from Vlasic and a final score of 25-17.
USF's hot start is the best in the Gilad Doron era, and the Dons haven't won their first five contests of the year since the 2005 campaign.
USF finishes off its matches in Long Beach dueling with the host 49ers Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be streamed live on bigwest.tv.
