SAN FRANCISCO, Calif — It was a night of clear progress for the young USF Dons volleyball team as they showed the ability to take an early lead but were unable to seal the deal in any set as they were swept by visiting Pepperdine 25-16, 25-19, 25-19 inside War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. 

USF jumped out to a 6-5 lead in the first set on the strength of Kate Ashman's booming hits as she had the Dons first three kills of the game. Tyna Adamcikova tallied four of her team-high 12 kills in the set as well, but a late Pepperdine (8-11, 2-5 WCC) run saw the Waves sprint out to their biggest set victory of the night 25-16. 

Set two got off to a roaring start as it opened with an ace from Trish Koutsoukos (five digs) and was followed by big hits from Adamcikova and Nora Buvarp Lavik (two blocks) as the Dons jumped out in front 10-7. An ace from Kim Gutierrez prompted a timeout from Waves coach Scott Wong which turned the tide of the whole set. Pepperdine came out of the break scoring five unanswered and while USF (4-16, 0-7 WCC) was able to lock the set back up at 14, it was all Pepperdine for the rest of the set.

The third and final set was the most thrilling for the Dons as they again jumped out to an early set lead. This time it was 7-3 thanks to three Adamcikova kills and two from Emily Reed (six digs). Just as in the sets before, the Dons ability to gain an early advantage was wiped away by the Waves as they ripped of two separate runs of seven points. 

While the game did not go the Dons way, Gutierrez (12 digs) was able to boost herself into a tie on the all-time digs leaderboard for USF with Carrie Dunlap at 988 digs.

Next up for the Dons is a home tilt with Loyola Marymount University on Saturday at 1 pm at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.