SAN FRANCISCO – The 2015 San Francisco volleyball campaign started with gusto after the Dons secured the 3-0 victory to earn its first win of the season on opening day. The Dons downed the visiting San Diego State Aztecs in the nightcap of the first day of the San Francisco Invitational on Friday night at War Memorial Gym.

 With the win, USF starts with a victory for the second-straight season and avenges a 2013 loss to the Aztecs in sweeping fashion.

"I have a lot of respect for Dietre and what they do out there at San Diego State," said head coach Gilad Doron. "They've been successful for many years and this is a great win to start the season but we've got to be better tomorrow and continue the process."

The Dons put together a solid .323 hitting percentage on offense while the defense held the Aztecs to just .041 hitting on the night. USF was big on the block with freshman Madison Murtagh posting six total stuffs in her debut on the court.

"Madison – you never know how she feels, she doesn't show it," noted Doron of his freshman starter. "I know and she knows she was very nervous toda,y and she started the game a little hesitant. Then I said be yourself, be aggressive. She got stronger and stronger, and it's a great start for what's going to be a great career here as a Don."

Junior Katarina Pilepic paced the Dons with 10 kills, while Murtagh added eight and sophomore Oluoma Okaro finished with seven kills on a .429 hitting percentage. A pair of women shared setting duties with Kiara McKibben assisting on 18 plays and Jurja Vlasic helping USF to the point on 12 occasions. Sophomore libero Kim Gutierrez dug out a match-high 12 balls
In the first set, the teams battled it out to the 10-10 tie after an attack error from San Diego State's Alexandra Psoma. Gaffney went back for the serve and give USF the advantage after McKibben set up Pilepic for the score and Gaffney recorded the ace to put the score at 13-10 and force the Aztecs to call its first timeout.

Once USF gained the advantage in the set, they never relinquished, and the Dons earned the 25-18 first set victory. The second frame was again close from the outset and San Diego State held the 9-8 lead early on. After four straight miscues by the Aztecs, USF took a 12-9 lead and started pulling away from the visitors. Back to back kills by Pilepic put the score at 18-11, and three more errors for San Diego State had the Dons up by 10 points. A kill by Okaro, off the set from Vlasic gave the Dons the 25-14 second-set win and the 2-0 lead heading into halftime.

Coming out of the break, USF turned on the gets to race to a 14-7 lead after Murtagh and Courtney Sabahi combined for the block. But the Aztecs would rally with a 8-2 run to pull within a point after Baylee Little earned the point for San Diego State.

The Dons called for the timeout to regroup, and eased to the 25-20 victory to cap the night with the sweep.

"We knew San Diego State was going to come back and try to push it, and we just had to weather the storm," noted Doron. "I was pretty proud, especially of our younger players, who kind of made some big plays for us when we needed them so that was nice to see that we could do that."
 
Along with compiling a sizeable advantage in hitting percentage, the Dons led the match in every statistical category, and put up nine total team blocks on the night. But the Dons will have to regroup fast as USF faces off in two matches tomorrow in the second day of the Invitational.

"It was a physical game, so we'll see how we recover for the noon game with Bakersfield," said Doron. "Both Bakersfield and Denver played here earlier and you know they are fighting teams. Denver a little more size, Bakersfield a little faster. Both played in the NCAA representing their conferences last year, so it's a good opportunity for us.

"A couple years ago we went to San Diego State and lost in three so for us to see us win in three today it's kind of like oh the process is working. Last year we went to Denver and we fell in five so can we have a good day tomorrow and get two more wins. Conditioning will be a factor but that's what we work hard for and we're going to have to see how resilient we are."

USF is back in action with a pair of matches tomorrow facing off with Bakersfield at 12:30 and closing the San Francisco Invitational against Denver at 7 p.m.