ATHENS, Ga. – The San Francisco volleyball team earned its second win of the season in as many tries as the Dons earned the 3-1 victory over UNC-Asheville in Saturday's morning match at the Benson Hospitality Invitational.
The Dons (2-0) were paced by a trio of double-digit kill efforts, as senior
Emily Reed and freshman
Tyna Adamcikova tallied 13 apiece, and freshman
Kate Ashman added 12 on .409 hitting in the match.
Trish Koutsoukos again led the squad in assists with 22, with
Montana Green adding 14 helpers for the Dons. Libero
Kim Gutierrez paced USF defensively, with 16 digs. Big on the block, USF finished with seven total team blocks compared to UNC-Ashevile's one, as
Marjolijn Oskam helped on four blocks on the day.
The Bulldogs opened the match with the lead, racing out to a 7-2 advantage after back-to-back kills for Cara Gutherie forced a USF timeout. The Dons regrouped to earn the mid-match lead after Reed's ball went in for the point to make it 16-14. After the set was knotted at 17, UNC-Asheville capitalized on solid serving from Gutherie to again pull ahead before netting the 25-20 first-set victory to put the Dons on their heels.
After shaking off the first set finish, the second frame was dominated by the Dons. USF scored the first four points in the set and went on to build an 11-3 lead after an ace for Reed. The advantage bloomed to 10 points after Nora Burvarp Lavik's kill made it 19-9. The Dons went on to tie the match after the 25-16 win in the second.
USF never trailed in the third, earning the 25-15 victory after hitting .345 in the frame while holding UNC-Asheville to .000 hitting as the Dons edged out to the match lead. The Bulldogs would not go quietly, however, as the squad came out in the fourth with a 9-5 lead after three straight USF offensive miscues. UNC-Asheville kept the advantage late into the action, and the Dons did not overtake the lead until consecutive points for Ashman set the score at 18-17. The Dons never trailed again, as the two teams went point for point down to the wire until Reed's attack off the pass from Koutsoukos punctuated the win with a 25-23 frame.
USF finished the match against UNC-Asheville with the .331 to .154 hitting advantage, along with the edge over the Bulldogs in assists, digs and blocks from the Ramsey Center.
Next, the Dons take on tournament hosts, Georgia, at 4 p.m. The match will be televised on SEC+ Network, and streamed live on ESPN 3.
