University of San Francisco Athletics

SAN FRANCISCO — The 2019 season came to an end Tuesday night, and though the University of San Francisco volleyball team went down, it didn't go down without a fight, taking an early lead before visiting Saint Mary's came from behind to earn a 3-1 (18-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-23) West Coast Conference victory at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Besides the Gaels (11-17, 7-11 WCC) scoring the first point of the match, the Dons (8-21, 4-14 WCC) never trailed in the opening set, dominating Saint Mary's and building as large as a 10-point lead at 19-9. A 6-0 USF run turned a two-point edge into an eight-point, 15-7, advantage. Emily Zinger, who finished with a career-high 19 kills, had four during that stretch alone. And it was another Zinger kill that put away the set and clinched a 25-18 victory. The Dons held SMC to -.088 hitting in the first frame.
   
• A 7-0 run early in set two had the Dons ruling once again with a 10-5 lead. Two kills from Kathya Garcia, another from Katie Wagstaff, a service ace from Erin Fujitani, a block by Ally Wada and two Saint Mary's errors fuled the Dons' run. But Saint Mary's responded with a 10-2 run to take a two-point, 16-14 lead. Everything started working for Saint Mary's with four kills, two blocks and two aces during the run. The Dons kept it close at 20-18, but the Gaels outscored USF 5-3 down the stretch with three more kills and two more blocks to even the match at 1-1 with a 25-21 set victory.
   
• San Francisco continued to compete in the third set, but an early 5-0 spurt by Saint Mary's gave it the lead for good in the set. San Francisco would pull to within one point six times but couldn't get the tying or go-ahead score as the Gaels regularly fought them off. San Francisco actually hit the best it hit all match in the third set with 14 kills against five errors – its lowest amount of errors in a single set during the night – but it was also the Gaels' best hitting set. SMC attacked at a .395 clip with 18 kills and only three errors, running to a 25-19 set win and a 2-1 match lead.
   
• Saint Mary's never trailed in the fourth and final set, but San Francisco gave it all it could to the end. The Dons scored four consecutive points late, including back-to-back blocks from Orsula Staka and kills from Sophie Sydenham and Anna Dalla Vecchia. But the Gaels got back-to-back kills from Aubrey Pitts and Elena Baka to finish off the match victory.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 11: Garcia wrapped up her career on The Hilltop Tuesday with a double-double – her 11th of the season – tallying 17 kills and 13 digs. She also had three blocks and an ace.
• 19: Zinger set a new career high with a match-high 19 kills while hitting a team-best .308. She also added two blocks and a dig. Zinger had eight kills and hit .636 in the first set alone.
• 1,712: San Francisco had 69 digs on Tuesday and finished the season with more than 1,700 on the year as a team. It's the most digs USF has had since the 2014 season (1,784).