LARKSPUR, Calif. – The No. 13 San Francisco Dons earned its first win in program history over Bay Area rival Stanford, 4-1, on the sands at Piper Park in Larkspur, Calif.
The victory for the Dons is the first over the Cardinal in volleyball, including both beach and indoor play. Previous to today, the Dons stood at a combined 0-17 against its foes from the Peninsula before notching the win to move to 10-1 on the year.
"Any time you can beat a Bay Area team, and Stanford is obviously a great program and an athletic team, it's a great win," said co-head coach
Gilad Doron. "This is the first time we've beat them since we started, so I am really proud of the team. It's showed the progress that we have made and the quality of training and development that we have here at USF. Sometimes you don't have the best athletes but you need the heart and the dedication. I'm really proud of our team today in the last home match of the year versus Stanford."
The Dons opened the action with two quick victories from the Nos. 4 and 5 positions.
Jessica Keenan and
Kim Gutierrez dominated their match 21-12, 21-12 to give USF the early advantage. The USF pair led Stanford 6-1 in the first set and never looked back. The duo was knotted with Alexis Froistad and Karina Robinson at 7-7 going into the switch in the second, and after the change in direction the Dons were able to get the 12-9 lead and stretch it out for the victory finished off with a strike to the back corner for Gutierrez to put USF on the board first
At No. 4,
Jessica Gaffney and
Kiara McKibben were first on the scoreboard, and raced out to the 7-3 advantage after McKibben's cross-court blast put the score at 7-3 in the first set. Stanford's duo of Courtney Bowen and Jennifer DiSanto evened the frame at seven points apiece and raced out to the 11-8 lead. USF regained the lead after the switch, and Gaffney ace put the set score at 18-13, and the Dons took the frame 21-15, before easing to the 21-13 victory in the second after McKibben's ace to the back corner finished the second-set scoring.
Emily Reed and
Courtney Sabahi took to the sand in the No. 3 position and led wire-to-wire in the closely contested first set for the 21-19 win. In the second, Halland McKenna and Merete Lutz opened up with the 4-0 lead and maintained the advantage at 6-2. USF rolled off five unanswered to rally for the lead, but the Cardinal pair was able to forge a rally of their own to take the 12-10 advantage midway through the second. The back-and-forth battle continued throughout the frame, with ties at 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 points apiece. McKenna's service ace was followed by a service error to again keep the match even and 23, and then her kill two points later had extended the frame to 24-all. After a long rally was capped by a Sabahi kill, Reed followed the points with a cross court dagger to the line as the Dons earned the 26-24 victory and guaranteed the team win.
Stanford notched its lone point of the day at the No. 1 position after a 21-19, 21-15 straight set win, as the No. 2 pairings extended their match to a third set. USF's Croatian duo of
Katarina Pilepic and
Jurja Vlasic went up against Catherine Raquel and Ivana Vanjak. The Dons edged out to the early lead after a 21-18 first frame, but then dropped the second by a score of 21-7. Coming down to the rubber match, the Stanford tandem held the late lead at 10-9, but Pilepic's strike evened the frame. USF finished on a 6-1 scoring streak to earn the victory and close out the day with the 4-1 team win.
"We know that we have a really balanced No. 2, 3, and 4 pairs," said Doron. "I know the game with Courtney and Emily went down to the wire, and it was great toughness to show especially with a big blocker up in the front. It was really good to see Kat and Jurja come in after a flat second game and really find ways to come up with a big win. Kiara and Jessica have been solid the whole year and they took care of business in the four spot.
"Team No. 5 today really played well. I was really happy for Kim and Jessica. They were undersized, but today they showed that they have the skills and the heart, and it was really great to see."
The Dons continue the full week of action at the co-hosted Santa Cruz Invitational on Saturday. USF is slated to take on fellow co-host Santa Clara, Cal Poly and CSUN on the beaches of Santa Cruz in the all-day event. Action begins at 9 a.m.
No. 13 USF 4, Stanford 1No. 1 – Chang/Hodson (Stan) def. Okaro/Staengle (USF); 21-19, 21-15
No. 2 – Pilepic/Vlasic (USF) def. Raquel/Vanjak (Stan); 21-18, 7-21, 15-11
No. 3 – Reed/Sabahi (USF) def. Lutz/McKenna (Stan); 21-19, 26-24
No. 4 – Gaffney/McKibben (USF) def. Bowen/DiSanto (Stan); 21-15, 21-13
No. 5 – Gutierrez/Keenan (USF) def. Froistad/Robinson (Stan); 21-12, 21-12
Exh. – Alade/Robinson (Stan) def. Hirotsu/Miller (USF); 21-18, 20-22, 15-13
