MALIBU, Calif. — The San Francisco volleyball team pushed the West Coast Conference's third-place team in the second set Saturday, nearly evening the match up, but host Pepperdine was able to prevail and go on to a 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-17) win at Firestone Fieldhouse.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
- San Francisco (8-15, 1-11 WCC) would not be denied in the second set, continuing to come from behind and push the Waves (15-7, 9-3 WCC) even after dropping the first set. The Dons held two early one-point leads, but Pepperdine went on an 8-2 run to go up 11-6. That's when USF came right back and made it a one-point match with four straight points thanks to two aces by Erin Anthony and a kill from Sophie Sydenham.
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- Another small push by the Waves put them up 15-11, and then back came the Dons again, this time to tie it at 15-15 with back-to-back kills from Emily Zinger and Kathya Garcia. Back and forth the teams went, and with Pepperdine on the verge of victory leading 22-20, the Dons got a kill from Garcia and an error by the Waves to tie it at 22-22. But Pepperdine would score the final three points on two USF errors and a kill from Hannah Frohling to go up 2-0 in the match with a 25-22 set victory.
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- San Francisco stayed right next to the Waves at the start of the first set, forcing four ties in the first 12 points. But Pepperdine would find its rhythm and go on a 15-4 run to pull away. Pepperdine's run featured kills from four different players and was also spurred by five USF errors. Kathya Garcia led the Dons with three kills in the opening frame.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- .171: The Dons held Pepperdine to just .171 hitting in that closely contested second set. The Waves had just 11 kills with four errors on 41 total attempts.
- 2: Erin Anthony and Camille Araujo both had two aces Saturday. It was Araujo's fifth time this season with multiple aces, and Anthony's fifth as well.
- 17: Anna Dalla Vecchia tied for the match lead with a team-best 17 digs. It was her most digs in a match since tallying 21 versus No. 1 BYU on Oct. 11.
COMING UP
- San Francisco hosts Gonzaga and Portland next week in its final home weekend of the season. Gonzaga visits at 7 p.m. Thursday, then Portland comes to War Memorial at Sobrato Center at noon on Saturday for Senior Day.
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- Fans can purchase tickets and find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.
