Dec. 5, 2008

Box Score

(Los Angeles) - USF volleyball battled, but could not overcome slow starts to each set, dropping a five-set decision to ACC Co-Champion Duke 26-28, 25-21, 22-25, 25-23, 15-9 Friday night in the opening round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament at Pauley Pavilion. Making their second NCAA appearance in program history, the Dons finish the season with a 22-8 record, while the Blue Devils, playing in their 15th NCAA postseason advance to take on the winner of the UCLA/LSU match Saturday night.

San Francisco started sluggish in game one as Duke rolled to a 9-2 lead. The Dons roared back, going on a 14-8 run fueled by six kills from Mandala to close to within one at 17-16. The Blue Devils responded and went on a 4-2 burst to take a 21-18 edge, prompting a USF timeout. After the break San Francisco rallied to within one at 23-22, powered by back-to-back kills by senior outside hitter Addie Webster, prompting a Blue Devils timeout. Mandala took over from there and recorded back-to-back kills staking USF to a 27-26 lead and then sophomore setter Alaina Sully served an ace for the set one win.

Mandala finished with nine kills on .571 hitting in the opening set - a new USF postseason record for a single set. The Dons hit .213 for in the opening frame - the first set won in NCAA Tournament play in program history - with 18 kills.

Duke broke open a 7-7 tie and rolled to a 25-21 win in game two tying the contest at 1-1. The Dons hit .191 for the set and Gombos emerged with five kills in the frame, while Babin and Mandala added three apiece.

After trailing by as many as four points to start the third set, USF rallied to tie the score at 15-15 on a Duke attack error. USF reclaimed the lead on another hitting error, a Babin kill and back-to-back kills by junior outside hitter Anna Berger. A Gombos kill staked the Dons to a 23-18 advantage. Duke reeled off four unanswered points to close to within two at 23-21, but Gombos hammered her 11th and 12th kills of the match to send USF to the 25-22 set win for a 2-1 lead.

San Francisco hit .312 in the third set with 13 kills and just three errors in 32 attempts. Gombos tallied five kills in the frame and Mandala added four.

USF trailed in the fourth 18-13 used a 6-0 run to a 19-18 lead. Back-to-back kills by Berger and Gombos gave the Dons a 21-19 lead, but Duke responded to tie the score at 21-21. Unfazed, the Blue Devils bounced for a 4-2 run to seal the set win. San Francisco limited Duke to a .182 clip in the fourth but could not capitalize on opportunities.

It was all Duke in the decisive fifth. The Dons opened with a 3-1 lead, but the Blue Devils went on a 10-2 run and looked ready to run away. Trailing 11-5, San Francisco climbed back in as senior outside hitter Addie Webster served three straight points to pull the Dons to with three at 11-8, but they would get no closer as Duke advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive season.

The game was the final game in the Green and Gold for five seniors - Carly Babin, Darcy Carroll, Alix Gombos, Addie Webster and Zuzana Bednarova.

Mandala finished the contest with a match-high 20 kills, while Gombos recorded 18 on .441 hitting. Berger and Webster finished just short of double-digit kills with nine a piece. Webster added 16 digs, while Berger recorded 14. Carly Babin recorded eight kills with three digs and an assist.

Haley Carroll led the Dons with a match-high 22 digs. Darcy Carroll dished out 36 assists and four aces for San Francisco, while Alaina Sully posted 23 assists and eight digs.

Leading the contest for Duke was Rachael Moss, recording 16 kills and 17 digs.