Oct. 17, 2009

Box Score

(San Francisco) - Alycia Cox and Sarah Mandala each posted double-doubles Saturday afternoon as the USF Volleyball team posted a 3-1 (25-21, 25-23, 25-27, 25-21) victory over visiting Portland at War Memorial Gym. The victory marked the 10th straight home West Coast Conference victory for the Dons. USF has not dropped a league home contest since the end of the 2007 season.

With the victory, San Francisco evened its record at 9-9 overall, 3-2 in West Coast Conference action. Portland fell to 5-15, 1-4 in WCC play with the loss.

USF and Portland played fairly even in the opening set, tying each other 12 times and exchanging the lead five times. San Francisco posted a .308 hitting percentage in the set, compared to a .244 effort from Portland. The largest difference in the set, came late, thanks to the Dons' 24-20 advantage.

The second set was a similar tale, with USF posting a .214 hitting percentage and Portland, .229. The Dons went up big in the set 21-14 but had to fend off a 6-1 Pilot run before earning the set and eyeing the sweep.

Portland avoided the sweep, taking the third set. Portland had the opportunity to take the set, 24-23, but the pesky Dons continued to battle, until the Pilots capitalized on a USF attack error to earn the fight for match point.

Just like the rest of the match, San Francisco and Portland battled in the fourth set, trading the lead six times and forcing 14 ties. The match remained within three points until late in the set when the Dons went on a 4-1 run to earn the victory.

Mandala posted a match-high 16 kills in the contest, adding 13 digs for her second consecutive double-double. The junior also added two assists, and three blocks.

Cox recorded 10 kills, 11 digs, for her first career double-double while also dishing out a pair of assists and two blocks.

Erin Bragg joined the Dons' duo, earning double-digit kills with 14 on .321 hitting. Bragg also aided in pacing the defensive efforts, earning a team-high six blocks. Hadley Simmons and Anna Berger each fell just short of double-digit kills with nine apiece.

Haley Carroll continued her quest towards 2,000 digs, with 25 against the Pilots. Carroll is now 95 digs shy of the major milestone with 1,905 career digs.

Leanna Ludes and Alaina Sully shared time running the offense for USF. Ludes dished out 20 assists, while Sully posted 32.

The Dons will return to action Thursday as they travel to Los Angeles for a weekend series with Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount.