SAN FRANCISCO – The University of San Francisco women's volleyball team was missing a key piece of their attack when outside hitter McKenna Marshall was unable to finish the match against visiting Saint Mary's.  As a result, the Dons fell to the Gaels 3-1 (25-18, 15-25, 19-25, 19-25) at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center on Saturday night.
 
USF (6-8, 6-8 WCC) finished with 46 kills on 160 swings with 22 errors. Greta Corti had an outstanding match, finishing with a match-high 21 kills while hitting .409.  She also added 15 digs for a double-double. The 21 kills by Corti matched her season-high from earlier this season against LMU it was also her sixth double-double of the year.
 
The trouble was USF could not get anyone else going on the attack, Marshall finished with six kills on 32 swings with seven errors in three sets. Sophie Sydenham had five kills, Valeria Alegrias Cambindo had four, as did Orsula Staka.
 
Aylen Ayub finished with 35 assists, three kills, an ace and six digs. Bruna Correa finished with 16 digs, Anna Dalla Vecchia had 18 digs. Sara Denham had two aces.
 
Saint Mary's (6-7, 6-7 WCC) finished with 46 ills on 148 swings with 21 errors to hit .169.  The Gaels had two players finish in double figures in kills, led by Elena Baka's 16. Hawley Harrer added 10.
 
"It became very clear how important McKenna is to this team," said head coach Frank Lavrisha following the match. "Without her we were grasping for solutions. It was good that we fought, we scrapped. But today just made it perfectly clear to everybody that we somehow we got to pick up the other parts of our games so that we can compete and be a good team no matter who is in there."
 
In the first set the Dons defense and a healthy dose of Corti was enough for USF to take the frame 25-18. USF held the Gaels to just seven kills on 36 swings with six errors for a .028 attack percentage. Corti on the other hand finished the set with eight kills on 16 swings. USF's defense at the net was extremely tough, Staka finished with a 1.5 blocks in the set including a solo stuff to give USF a 12-9 advantage.
 
"I thought Greta Corti did a great job today in response," said Lavrisha.  "She covered the whole floor, defending their blocking on our hitters, defense, back row attack. She was just brilliant."
 
The second set went to the Gaels. After the Dons scored first on a kill by Marshall, the Gaels went on a 4-0 run to take the momentum.  USF battled back cutting the deficit to one, 10-9, following a kill by Marshall. But the Gaels regained the momentum, an ace by Alosina Thompson sealed the game for the Gaels, winning 25-15.  
 
USF hit a match-low in kills in the set with 10, meanwhile the Gaels responded with their most efficient set, hitting .286.
 
In the third and fourth set, the Dons were shorthanded with Marshall out. Corti continued to carry the load on the Dons' attack but the Gaels overwhelmed USF. Taking both sets by a final score of 25-19.
 
USF will return to action on Friday, March 19 at noon when the Dons host for game one of a two-game series.  First serve for Friday's match is at noon.  The game will be streamed on the WCC Network.