Oct. 11, 2008

Final Stats

(San Francisco) - Senior middle blocker Carly Babin turned in a career effort to lift the USF volleyball team to a 22-25, 26-24, 25-23, 25-18 West Coast Conference victory against over No. 15 San Diego Saturday at War Memorial Gym. With the victory, the Dons (13-4, 3-0 WCC) improved to 10-1 at War Memorial Gym and upset the Toreros (12-3, 2-1 WCC) for the second straight season. Last year, San Francisco defeated then-No. 12 San Diego 30-26, 30-22, 30-26 on the Hilltop.

San Francisco's conference start marks the first time in over 20 years that the Dons have opened league play with a 3-0 record. During the 1987 season, USF opened conference play with a 5-0 record before finishing the conference season with a program-best 9-5 mark.

"We believe this year," USF head coach Gilad Doron said. "When we lost game one, we came back and came from behind to win game two and found a way to win game three and in game four we hit .708 as a team. It's good to know we're not depending on one player and we can do it as a team as long as we stay together and believe."

USF posted a .328 hitting percentage in the match, including hitting .316 in the third and .708 in the fourth and decisive set. The Dons also held a commanding block advantage over the Toreros, 14 to 7.

"Today was a total team effort," Doron said. "After the first game we were able to relax and execute our game plan very well. Once we got our passing going, we were hard to stop. Carly and Alix had a huge game. Addie was very solid all around and Sarah came alive for us in game three."

Babin continued her stellar senior season, leading the Dons with a .826 hitting percentage. Babin's average marked the third best in USF single-match history, and the best average for a Don in four games. The native of Las Vegas, Nev. recorded 19 kills, a career-high seven digs and a match-high seven blocks in the contest.

Senior middle blocker Alix Gombos and sophomore opposite hitter Sarah Mandala each posted double digit kills for USF with 11 and 10, respectively. Gombos finished the afternoon hitting at a .429 clip, while adding six blocks to move her into seventh place in the USF record book with 322 career blocks.

Senior Addie Webster hit at a .429 clip, as the outside hitter fell just short of a double-double with nine kills and a dozen digs. Webster also dished out four assists and posted four blocks.

Senior setter Darcy Carroll dished out 34 assists for the Dons, while freshman Alaina Sully added 16. Sully also posted one kill, a dig and two service aces for San Francisco. Junior libero Haley Carroll recorded a team-high 14 digs in addition to two assists and a match-high three aces.

San Diego was led by junior outside hitter Amy Mahinalani DeGroot, who recorded 15 kills and nine digs, while senior setter Jessica Nyrop recorded a .600 hitting percentage with a match-high 43 assists and eight digs.

USF will look to extend a six-match win streak on Thursday, October 16 when they travel to face Saint Mary's in Moraga, before traveling to rival No. 20 Santa Clara on Saturday, October 18.