University of San Francisco Athletics

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco volleyball team will feature another standout international middle blocker in 2019, as the Dons signed Orsula Staka out of Dubrovnik, Croatia, to a National Letter of Intent during the early signing period to join USF in 2019-20.
 
Staka, a 6-foot, 3-inch middle blocker, is a multi-time medal winner and all-tournament honoree in her home country of Croatia. Five different times she's been named as the best middle blocker in tournaments, and she has collected 10 medals at the club level (five gold, five bronze). She has also played for the Croatian junior national teams since she was 15, and is currently on the list for the Croatian senior national team.
 
"Orsula will give us tremendous length and the ability to match up with the taller rosters in the West Coast Conference," said San Francisco Head Coach Frank Lavrisha. "She brings international experience to the middle blocker position from her native Croatia. She is an effective defender and will give our setters another scoring option. We look forward to Orsula's contributions in building our volleyball program within the WCC."
 
Staka joins fellow NLI signee Grace Talpash, a setter out of Temecula, Calif., to round out the Dons' 2019 early signing period recruiting class. Staka will join the Dons next year as they bid farewell this year to senior middle blocker Marjolijn Oskam out of the Netherlands, who collected 300 career total blocks in her collegiate career that spanned both Xavier University and the University of San Francisco.