SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Battling wire-to-wire, the University of San Francisco volleyball team (9-10, 2-6 WCC) completed their home sweep this weekend with a thrilling five-set victory over Portland (9-10, 2-6 WCC) on Saturday afternoon at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Starting strong, the Dons jumped out to an early 6-3 lead following a kill from Shyia Richardson and a service ace from Lauren Perri. Responding quickly thereafter, the Pilots rallied back to go ahead, 18-14, midway through the first set. Digging deep, USF answered back by going on to outscore the Pilots 11-3 to down the stretch as the Dons grabbed set one, 25-21.
- Trading points to open the second set, the two teams were even at 12 midway through the action before Portland gathered momentum to pull ahead, 18-13. Although the Dons would be able to cut their deficit to just one, 19-18, the Pilots went on a 6-2 to close out USF and secure the second set, 25-20.
- Similar to set one, the Dons grabbed a 10-5 lead to begin set three, but Portland recovered once again to even the score at 11-11. Through the rest of the set, neither team would lead by more than two points as USF had to push to 27 points to notch the set win and take a 2-1 advantage in the match.
- Flipping the script in the next set, the Pilots led by three, 8-5, in the early stages of the fourth set before pushing the score to 17-12 in their favor halfway through. Aiming to claw back, the Dons came within four, 20-16, but could not complete the comeback as Portland held on to even the match at 2 with a 25-18 set victory.
- Seeming to be poised for a win, the Pilots raced out to an 8-2 advantage to start the fifth and decisive set. However, the set would prove to be far from over as the Dons stormed back with a 7-1 run to draw within one, 11-10. Despite an attack error on the following play, USF closed the match on a 5-0 run, which included two kills from Maria Petkova, to take down the Pilots, 15-11, in the set and notch the 3-2 win.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:
- Leading the charge offensively for USF, Claire Crijns finished with a match-high 17 kills to go along with 18 digs as the graduate student notched her fifth double-double of the season on Saturday.
- Alongside Crijns, Ayub tallied a match-high 43 assists while also adding 13 digs to record her third double-double of the year.
- As a team, the Dons led the Pilots in points (84.0-80.0), kills (61-56), assists (53-47), digs (78-72) and hitting percentage (.208-.195).
POSTGAME WITH THE DONS:
UP NEXT:
USF will close out their three-match home stand with a Thursday night matchup against Saint Mary's on Oct. 20 at 7:00 pm. Live streaming, live statistics and tickets are available via the
team's schedule page.
FOLLOW US:
For more information and updates on the University of San Francisco volleyball program, be sure to follow the Dons on Twitter @USFDonsVB, @USFDonsVB on Instagram and @USFDonsVball on Facebook.
SPONSOR THE DONS:
The University of San Francisco Athletics Department would like to acknowledge and thank our primary sponsor - Provident Credit Union - for their continued support of USF Athletics. Interested in sponsoring the Dons? Please contact
Frank Allocco, the Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director of External Relations, at fallocco@usfca.edu or at (415) 422-4561.
