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Dons DiG PiNK Against Santa Clara
Sept. 30, 2009
THIS WEEK: San Francisco will open the 2009 conference season hosting long-time rival Santa Clara Friday evening at 7 p.m. The game will mark the Dons’ annual DiG PiNK match, to help bring awareness towards the fight against breast cancer. San Francisco encourages fans to wear pink in support of the cause. USF is also helping to raise money towards the campaign; those who wish to donate can do so by visiting the link on the volleyball homepage at www.USFDons.com
LOOKING AHEAD: The Dons will hit the road next weekend, traveling to San Diego and across the bay to Moraga to face USD and Saint Mary’s. Thursday, October 8 the Dons will face off against the nationally ranked Toreros in San Diego at 7 p.m. before facing the Gaels Saturday at 7 p.m. in Moraga.
LOOKING BACK: Last Saturday, junior Sarah Mandala recorded her 1,000th career kill Saturday as the Dons posted a 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-14) victory over visiting Cal State Bakersfield at War Memorial Gym. In what turned out to be an afternoon of milestones, Mandala earned career kill No. 1,000 in her final attempt, giving the Dons’ the program’s 350th all-time victory.
DONS TO FIGHT BREAST CANCER, HOST DIG PINK: The Dons will participate this year in the annual Dig Pink brigade, to help bring awareness to and fight breast cancer. USF will host Dig Pink night Friday, October 2 against Santa Clara. San Francisco encourages fans to wear pink in support of the cause. USF is also helping to raise money towards breast cancer awareness, those who wish to donate can visit the link on the volleyball home page at www.USFDons.com. San Francisco will also compete in the DiG PiNK events at Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine on October 24 and 25, respectively.
MANDALA HITS ILLUTRIOUS MARK: Junior Sarah Mandala continues to make strides in her career and just reached a major benchmark - 1,000 kills. Currently, Mandala has amassed exactly 1,000 career kills. The San Dimas native recorded the milestone in the final point against Cal State Bakersfield. She is now just the ninth player in USF history to accomplish the feat, reaching the mark quicker than the other eight, and became just the third Don to achieve the milestone as a junior.
MANDALA RANKS SECOND NATIONALLY: Junior Sarah Mandala currently ranks second nationally in kills per set, averaging 4.94. Division I is currently paced by Yun Yi Zhang from Temple, who averages 5.78 kills per set. Mandala also ranks in the top-5 in points per set (5.49). Senior libero Haley Carroll is the lone other Don ranking in the top-100 nationally, thanks to 5.0 digs per set to place her 22nd.
CARROLL MAKES HISTORY, INCHES CLOSER TO 2,000: Thanks to 24 digs against Sacramento State, senior libero Haley Carroll became USF all-time digs leader. With her 15th dig of the match, Carroll blew past previous record holder Brynn Maurer (2004-07) with 24 digs against Sacramento State. With 18 regular season matches remaining in her career in the Green and Gold, Carroll has accumulated 1,804 digs. Carroll already sits atop the San Francisco all-time ranks for digs per set with 4.80 in 376 sets played. The senior also ranks in the all-time career aces category with 136, placing her second in program history.
CARROLL, MANDALA NAMED TO WATCH LIST: Senior libero Haley Carroll and junior opposite Sarah Mandala have been named to the AVCA Division I Preseason Watch List, as announced by the AVCA last week. Last season Carroll earned All-West Coast Conference honorable mention accolades while Mandala was named to the All-WCC First Team.
DONS FALL TO STANFORD BUT MAKE HISTORY IN THE PROCESS: Sept. 19, San Francisco traveled to Standford, falling 3-1, but USF made history in set two, taking a 25-22 victory. The set marked the first time in 16 contests with the Cardinal that the Dons captured a set. In all 16 of the previous meetings between the two programs, San Francisco fell 3-0 to Stanford.
CARROLL NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior libero Haley Carroll was named the West Coast Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 16, as announced by the conference office last week. Carroll led the Dons to a 3-0 record, as USF captured the tournament championship at the 2009 Hornet Invitational. The three-time All-WCC selection captured tournament MVP honors in Sacramento, averaging an impressive 5.73 digs per set (63 total) to go a long with 0.55 aces. She also recorded 25 digs to go along with five assists and three aces against the Crimson Tide. The weekly honor is the second of her career, and the first of the season for a Don. Carroll was previous named WCC Player of the Week as a freshman, for the week of October 23, 2006.
BRAGG STARTS 2009 STRONG:
Middle blocker Erin Bragg has seen a strong start to her sophomore campaign, including an impressive outing during the 2009 Asics Challenge. Bragg saw time as a reserve last year as a freshman, and has transitioned into a starting role this season. In the Dons four matches of the Asics Challenge, Bragg recorded 48 kills on team-high 354 hitting. The native of Clovis also added 12 blocks, two aces and six digs. For her efforts, Bragg earned All-Tournament honors for the first time in her career. For the season, she boasts 122 kills on .209 hitting with a team-high 51 blocks.
MANDALA CONTINUES TO WORK HER WAY UP: Junior opposite Sarah Mandala continues to make waves in the USF record books. Thanks to 24 kills last weekend, the San Dimas native has moved into sole possession of ninth place on the all-time career kills list. Previously she was tied with Laura Tinetti (1997-2000) with 976 career kils. Currently, Mandala is 11 kills shy of eighth place. Mandala opened the season ranked 17th overall with 736. She currently leads USF with 237 kills this season. Mandala also ranks fourth all-time on the kills per set list, averaging 3.77 in 265 sets played. This season, she is far surpassing her career average, with 4.94 kills per set.
GREEN AND GOLD HIT MILESTONE: San Francisco recorded 350th program victory last weekend thanks to a 3-1 victory over Cal State Bakersfield. The Dons played their first match on Sept. 20, 1977 against Sonoma State and since have posted a 349-569 overall record. USF’s first all-time victory came Sept. 24 1977 thanks to a 2-0 sweep of Notre Dame De Namur. In 1983, on Nov. 12 the Don’s recorded their 50th victory before earning the 100th victory in 1987 against Portland (Oct. 8, 3-2), and the 150th victory in 1992 at Saint Mary’s (Nov. 7, 3-2). The 200th all-time win came in 1999 against Gonzaga (Oct. 2, 3-1) while Portland fell victim to USF for the Green and Gold’s 250th (Nov. 11, 2003, 3-1) and 300th (Oct. 21, 2006, 3-0) victories.
WAR MEMORIAL GYM RENOVATIONS: Home matches this fall will be the first competition held in War Memorial Gym since renovations were completed this summer. The home of the Dons’ men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball program celebrated its 50th anniversary during last season. The floor replacement this summer was the first floor replacement done since the arena opened in 1958-59. In addition to the new floor and design, new NCAA and conference championship banners were hung to celebrate the legacy and tradition of USF.
DORON RETURNS TO THE HILLTOP FOR HIS THIRD SEASON: Gilad Doron enters his third season at the University of San Francisco looking to build on a solid debut in 2007 and continue the success of a record breaking 2008 season. Doron was introduced as the ninth head coach in program history on March 14, 2007. It is the second Division I head coaching assignment for Doron who spent three years (2004-06) as the head coach at Villanova, guiding the Wildcats to back-to-back winning seasons in the Big East. During his tenure on the Hilltop, Doron has posted a 45-28 (.616) overall record, including 17 WCC victories. His league win mark is the third highest total in the USF coaching ranks, just five wins shy of the record of 22 held by Laurie Corbelli (1986-89).
DONS FACE TOUGH SLATE IN 2009: USF will face a challenging schedule in 2009, playing nine teams in 13 matches that advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2008. Included in the nine teams is a match against National Champion runner-up and Bay Area foe, Stanford. The WCC slate also poses to be a challenge for the Dons, as last season the league advanced five teams to the NCAA Tournament. Over the past six seasons, the league has emerged as one of the premier volleyball conferences in the country. In the past five seasons, the WCC has owned a national top-five ranking in the RPI on three occasions. Last season, the WCC had five schools with RPI’s under 50, trailing only the Pac-10 (7) and the Big Ten (7).
2008 REVIEW: The Dons open 2009 off the heels of a record breaking 2008 season, which included advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history. USF also posted a record-setting 11-3 finish in the West Coast Conference, earning it a program-high second place conference finish. For their accomplishments, five Dons - Carly Babin, Alix Gombos, Sarah Mandala, Haley Carroll and Darcy Carroll - earned All-West Coast Conference accolades.
USF PICKED FIFTH IN PRESEASON POLL: San Francisco was picked fifth in the 2009 West Coast Conference preseason poll, as voted on by the league’s head coaches. San Diego was selected as the preseason favorites, followed by Pepperdine, Saint Mary’s Santa Clara and USF. Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga and Portland rounded out the list. A year ago, the WCC sent five teams to the NCAA Tournament, including the Dons. In 2008, San Francisco was picked tied for fourth in the conference, before going 7-0 in the opening half of league play. USF ended the season a win shy of the league championship, placing second in the WCC with an 11-3 record.
WONG JOINS USF COACHING STAFF: Scott Wong joins the USF volleyball coaching staff as the associate head coach this season. A current USA men’s volleyball assistant coach and former National Team member, Wong has spent the past two seasons with the third-ranked Pepperdine men’s volleyball team as an assistant coach. Wong joins the Dons as a replacement for former associate head coach Dan Fisher, who has left the Hilltop for the associate head coach position with the University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball program.
