Kara Pein

After splitting first two games, San Francisco prevails

PORTLAND, Ore. --- Slow starts hurt the Portland Pilots in a 3-1 West Coast Conference women’s volleyball loss to San Francisco at the Chiles Center on Thursday night. The Pilots remain winless in WCC matches as the Dons swept the season series and won their 11th consecutive contest against Portland.

The Dons (16-13, 5-8 WCC) held on for the 30-24, 26-30, 30-22, 30-21 victory, thanks in large part to the Pilots (7-20, 0-13) sluggish starts in most games.

Freshman Jessica Clemens and junior Jennifer Sheedy led the Pilots with 12 kills each. Clemens added 13 digs, but struggled with six receiving errors and five service errors. Senior setter Kara Pein had a solid all-around match with 39 assists, 14 digs and five block assists.

Senior Kristin Hasselberg led all players with 17 kills for the Dons. Freshman Sarah Mandala added 15 kills, while Addie Webster contributed 14.

Portland spotted USF an early 11-2 lead in game one to gain a much-needed cushion. The Pilots battled all the way back to pull within 25-23 on a kills by Jessica Clemens, but the Dons rattled off five of the next six points following a timeout to secure the game.

The Pilots evened the match despite another early lapse in game two. Trailing 5-1, the Pilots were behind a majority of the game before rattling off a 7-0 run on Grayson’s serve to take a 23-19 lead. The Dons committed five attacking errors during the spurt, which was capped by a block from Pein and Grayson. Sheedy added two more kills late for a 30-26 win.

After intermission, the Dons were trailing 5-0 before pushing to a 13-10 lead on a Mandala kill. Portland labored through .143 hitting for the game compared to USF’s .289 attack percentage. It was more of the same in game four as the Dons won decisively, 30-21, behind a match-high.341 hitting.

Portland concludes its 2007 season on Saturday at the Chiles Center against the San Diego Toreros. Portland’s three seniors – Kara Pein, Nicole Thometz and Kelly Whitehouse – will be recognized prior to the match as part of Senior Day.