SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Another fast start by the University of San Francisco volleyball team was stymied Friday, this time by South Bay rival Santa Clara, as the Broncos came from behind and staved off a third-set push by the Dons to take a 3-1 (22-25, 25-14, 25-23, 25-8) West Coast Conference victory at the Leavey Center.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
- San Francisco (4-11, 0-4 WCC) was strong in the first set, hitting .342 with 15 kills and only two errors. McKenna Marshall hit .750 in the first set with six kills and Kate Ashman hit .600 with four terminations, both with no errors. The Dons won the set, 25-22, and took a 1-0 match lead for the second consecutive match.
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- But Santa Clara's (12-5, 2-2 WCC) defense turned it up after that, winning three consecutive sets while shutting down the Dons' offense. USF had a negative hit percentage for each of the final three sets and finished the match hitting -.008 after hitting over .340 in the first set. The Broncos finished with 16 total team blocks, including four players who finished with five or more.
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- After Santa Clara evened the match with a 25-14 win in the second, it had to earn a match-turning third set victory. It jumped out to a 9-4 lead and was still leading 14-10 midway through, but the Dons charged all the way back to make it 17-16 and 22-21. San Francisco still wouldn't go away when it scored back-to-back points on a Santa Clara error and a kill from Kathya Garcia to make it 24-23. But the Broncos were able to earn the momentous set win with a block from Alexa Dreyer and Michelle Shaffer.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- -.008: The Dons' negative hitting percentage Friday was their first sub-.000 hitting percentage as a team since Sept. 9, 2016, versus St. John's.
- 4: Ally Wada notched her fourth double-double of the season with 25 assists and 12 digs. She also had two kills and a service ace.
- 6: Orsula Staka tied her season high with a season-high six blocks. She also had six in the Dons' conference opener at Pepperdine on Sept. 26.
COMING UP
- San Francisco continues play in the first half of the WCC schedule next weekend on the road at BYU (Thursday) and San Diego (Saturday). Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.
