QUEENS, N.Y. – For just the third time in school history, the San Francisco volleyball team remains undefeated through its first eight contests of the year after taking down Cornell and George Mason on Friday at the St. John's Jack Kaiser Volleyball Classic.
 
"It was a good two wins," said head coach Gilad Doron. "It was good to see the team play through some adversity with the time change and getting in late after a long trip to the East Coast. We were able to compete well this morning and come through with the victories. Flying cross country and playing early is not an easy thing."
 
The Dons opened the day at Taffner Field House against the Cornell Big Red, and the USF offense was on the attack from the outset. A foursome of Dons provided double-digit kill efforts, led by freshman Madison Murtagh's 13 kill outing on .600 hitting.  She again led the USF offense in the day's second match, adding another 13 kills and improving her hitting percentage to .611 against George Mason.
 
USF jumped out to an early lead in the first set with Kiara McKibben at the service line and the Dons dominated the frame to cruise to the 25-12 first set win against Cornell. The Big Red rebounded with the 25-20 victory in the second frame to knot the score heading into halftime.
 
USF was able to control the third frame of the day to again stretch the overall lead over Cornell, taking the 8-3 advantage off a kill from Emily Reed. The Dons kept the lead at five after Courtney Sabahi made it 15-10, but the Big Red scrapped back to knot the frame at 17 apiece. USF weathered the storm to close out the set with the 25-22 victory, capped by the kill for Katarina Pilepic, one of her six in the set.
 
The fourth was tied at 10-all when the Dons reeled off a run to jump out to the 20-13 advantage after an ace off the hand of senior Jessica Keenan. Despite a late push by Cornell, USF went on to earn the 25-21 victory in the set to close the match.
 
"We had to play back-to-back with a 30-minute break in between, and that's something that we haven't faced," noted Doron. "We showed that we had the conditioning and ability to do that."
 
After the brief rest, the Dons got back to business to earn their fourth sweep of the season. George Mason opened the first set with the early lead, but the Dons quickly recovered after Oluoma Okaro's kills put the score at 5-4 in favor of USF. The frame stayed tight but the Dons held the advantage throughout and Murtagh's kill off the assist from McKibben made it 23-19 late in the action. Murtagh capped the first-set victory for the Dons with the ace.
 
The second set was all USF, as long stretches with Jessica Gaffney and Kim Gutierrez at the serve allowed the Dons to ease to the 25-12 win. The Patriots came out swinging in the third, and held the 10-5 lead after an ace from Erica Partridge. But the Dons were able to regroup with a string of six consecutive points which started with the block from Reed and Okaro. Kills from Sabahi and Pilepic followed, and then Okaro and Sabahi combined on the denial at the net to force a George Mason timeout.
 
A final point from Murtagh sealed the 25-18 victory as the Dons reveled in their first 8-0 start since 2005. Other than the '05 campaign, the only other time in school history has USF began the year with such gusto was in 2003's 15-0 beginning which catapulted USF to the program's first bid in to the NCAA Volleyball Championship field.
 
All told, Pilepic finished with 19 kills and six blocks on the day, and Okaro totaled 15 kills and 11 blocks in the two matches for the Dons. USF finished with the 23 to 16 advantage in total team blocks. Stout from the service line, the Dons finished with 13 aces on the day from eight different women.
 
"We served and passed well all day and it helped our flow. Against Cornell we spread our offense, and versus George Mason we blocked well and stayed efficient. Madison, Kat and Oly each had their moments, and Courtney came up big for us down the stretch with key plays both offensively and defensively."
 
The Dons continue play in the Classic tomorrow, as USF  tussles with Central Connecticut at 7 a.m. PT before turning around to take on the host St. John's Red Storm at noon PT, from Carnesecca Arena. Both matches will be streamed live on redstormsports.com.