SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco volleyball team's two seniors played two of their best matches of the season on Senior Day Saturday versus Portland, as Lena Bondar and Marjolijn Oskam helped carry San Francisco through five sets before the Pilots escaped with a 3-2 (25-27, 26-24, 25-16, 23-25, 15-8) West Coast Conference victory at War Memorial Gym at Sobrato Center.


 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Saturday's match was as close as it could have been. Three of the five sets were decided by the minimum two points, with two of those going into extra points. Both teams held match advantages with San Francisco (8-17, 1-13 WCC) going up 1-0 and Portland (18-7, 6-7 WCC) going up 2-1, but they still wound up in a deciding fifth set. The match featured a total of 23 ties and 11 lead changes.
   
• Bondar and Oskam powered the Dons all afternoon long. Bondar played her best match in a Dons uniform, setting a new season high in kills on her special day with 15. She also hit a team-best .444 while also logging a team-high four blocks. Oskam also set a season high with eight kills and was right behind Bondar hitting .375. She also tallied two blocks to give her a team-high 72 on the year.
   
• USF led the first set 23-20, but Portland went on a 4-1 run with two kills from two different players and an ace from Lauren Naatz to tie it at 24-24. San Francisco gave itself three set points at 24-23, 25-24 and 26-25, finally finishing the opening set victory with a kill from Emily Zinger.
   
• The Dons did the same thing to Portland in the second frame. Portland led 24-21 and was looking at tying the match, but USF ran off three straight points with a kill from Katie Wagstaff, a solo block from Lena Bondar and a Portland error. But the Pilots righted the ship and got the next two points from Izzy Guzik, as she put down a kill and a service ace to clinch a 26-24 set win and tie the match at 1-1.
   
• After Portland ran off an 8-1 stretch midway through set three en route to a 25-16 set victory and a 2-1 match lead, San Francisco picked itself right back up and battled in the fourth frame. The Dons went on their own 8-0 run early in the fourth to take a 12-6 lead. But the set wasn't yet decided. Portland came back with an 8-2 run that gave it back a slim 18-17 lead. From there, the teams would face six tie scores and three lead changes. San Francisco scored four of the last five points with kills from three different players and a Portland error to come from behind and edge out a 25-23 set victory, tying the match at 2-2.
   
• The Dons scored the first two points of the fifth and deciding set, with the senior Oskam getting them going on a kill to open the frame. But Portland answered with five straight points of its own and would never relinquish the lead. USF pulled to within 9-6 after the teams switched courts, but the Pilots scored six of the last eight points, in part on four errors from the Dons, to win the set, 15-8, and the match, 3-2.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 10: Kathya Garcia posted her team-leading 10th double-double of the season and second in a row Saturday. She had 14 kills and 13 digs to go with two assists.
• 13: The Pilots secured 13 service aces as a team. Five different players had two or more each, led by Lauren Naatz's four aces. Portland also had 11 service errors in the match.
• 21 & 27: Both of the Dons' setters, Erin Anthony and Ally Wada, tallied more than 20 assists with 27 and 21, respectively. For Anthony, it was her 15th 20-plus assists performance of the year and second in a row. For Wada, it was her fifth.

COMING UP

• San Francisco embarks on a season-concluding four-match road trip starting next week. The Dons head to both defending WCC champions' houses, first to San Diego on Thursday, then to No. 1-ranked BYU on Saturday.
   
• Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com. Follow @USFDonsVB and @DonsAthletics on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for all the latest updates.