LOGAN, Utah – The San Francisco volleyball extended its season-opening streak after taking down Southern Utah in the Utah State Gossner Invitational on Friday evening.
The Dons (4-0) defeated the Thunderbirds (4-1) from the court of the Wayne Estes Center, with four women recording at least 10 kills on the evening.
Katarina Pilepic, a junior from Novi Vinodolski, Croatia, led the way with 16 kills for the Dons, and sophomore
Oluoma Okaro finished with 14 kills on the night. Sophomore
Jessica Gaffney earned the double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs, and freshman
Madison Murtagh added 10 kills and a team-high eight total blocks in USF's victorious effort.
Setter
Kiara McKibben assisted on 40 plays to go along with 18 digs for the Dons and libero
Kim Gutierrez scooped up a match-high 24 digs for the USF defense.
"It's a great team win on the road," noted USF head coach
Gilad Doron. "We played against a very hot Southern Utah team that was very hungry. We thought our girls weathered the storm during Game 1, and it was a total team effort throughout the match."
USF started the match on its heels, falling behind 15-10 in the first set. USF narrowed the margin to one after Okaro's kill made it 18-17 in favor of Southern Utah. The Dons again stayed within one late in the action after Gaffney's ball set the score at 23-22. Consecutive attack errors by the Thunderbirds put USF in position to clinch the match and on the next play,
Emily Reed and Murtagh combined for the block to nab the first set win 25-23.
Southern Utah evened the score in the second set after taking the 25-18 but the Dons battled to take the third, 25-23. The hotly contested frame featured 12 ties and eight lead changes, but once USF nabbed the 10-9 lead off the block from Murtagh and Pilepic, the Dons never trailed.
The fourth and final frame was again close from the outset with neither team able to extend the lead past two until
Courtney Sabahi's point put the Dons ahead 23-20. USF went on to take the set 25-21 to stay unbeaten on the year.
The Dons now prepare for two matches on the docket for Saturday. First, USF will take on Middle Tennessee at 9 a.m. PT, and will close the tournament slate against the hosts, Utah State, at 6 p.m.
"Everybody that got in gave us timely contribution," said Doron. "We hope we grow as a team from here and get a chance to play better tomorrow against two tough opponents."
