Box Score Box Score
PORTLAND, Ore. – San Francisco overcame a 5-1 Portland lead in the fifth set to defeat the Pilots in an exciting barn-burner on Thursday night at the Chiles Center in West Coast Conference action. The Dons won by scores of 25-22, 23-25, 23-25, 25-20 and 15-13.
The Pilots (5-21, 1-10 WCC) recorded several individual career highs and junior Danielle Dupar broke into the UP all-time top-10 career digs list.
With a match-high 25 dig performance, junior Danielle Dupar has the tenth most career digs ever recorded by a Pilot bringing her total to 965 digs. She currently sits at fourth all-time in digs per set with 3.40. Dupar also sent over two service aces against the Dons.
Four Pilots recorded double digits in kills with senior Maria Clemens leading the way with 18. She also had nine digs, nearly collecting the double-double, and one block.
Freshman Kate Bostwick reached double-digits in kills for the first time in her young collegiate career with 13, setting a new career high smashing her previous record of eight kills (vs. American, 9/3). Bostwick also added three blocks, six digs and a service ace.
Usher’s 15 kills on .353 hitting marks the fourth consecutive match she’s turned out double digits. Her match-high seven blocks set a new career high and also marks the 10th match this season that she has registered four blocks or more.
Senior Shelley Sievers turned out 11 kills and also had six blocks. Meanwhile, sophomore Marissa Plummer had six blocks and added seven kills to help out the attack.
Senior setter Kaylyn Jones dished out a match-high 40 assists, while freshman Madison Smith contributed 19.
San Francisco opened the first set with an 8-3 advantage before a Portland timeout sparked a 3-1 run. USF replied with a 10-2 run forcing head coach Joe Houck to call another timeout at 19-8. A Sievers kill restarted the action but USF would go on to sit comfortably at 24-12. But UP would not give up and launched a 10-0 run to fend off 10 straight set-points highlighted by some solid blocking from redshirt-freshman Rachel Femling with the help of Plummer on one and Bostwick on the other. Eventually, USF’s Erin Bragg would send home the final kill for the Dons to claim the first set victory 25-22.
Portland shot out to a 6-3 lead in the second set behind the strength of Dupar’s serving, including two consecutive aces, and capped by a Maria Clemens kill. With the Pilots leading 12-8, the Dons launched a 5-0 rally that was finally stopped by a Bostwick kill from a Jones pass at 13-13. The two teams exchanged points up to 21-21 when the gridlock was broken by an Usher kill to put Portland up by one at 22-21. A Maria Clemens kill and another from Usher, complemented by a Dons’ attack error, sealed the set win 25-23 for the Pilots.
In the third set, the Pilots broke to a 6-4 advantage and extended their lead to 19-11 capped by a Plummer service ace. A 6-1 push from USF tightened the spread to within three points at 20-17 but UP replied with two consecutive points of their own to sit at 22-17. Another 3-0 rally from San Francisco threatened the Portland lead at 22-20 but two kills from Maria Clemens and one from Usher made certain a Portland set victory.
An authoritative point from the blocking duo of Sievers and Usher won Portland its first point of the fourth set but USF would race on to a 10-4 advantage. UP would push back with a 10-4 run fueled by a team-effort of points coming from six different Pilots to even the score at 14-14. The teams swapped points to 20-20 before the Dons stung with a 5-0 run of hard-fought points characterized with long rallies mounted up by the determined Pilots.
The Pilots took a 5-1 lead in the deciding set thanks to back-to-back points from Sievers on a kill and a block (with Maria Clemens) and bolstered by a Plummer kill. Coming out of a USF timeout the Dons rallied to score three consecutive points but UP held their lead to sit at 8-5 at the halfway mark. Bostwick sent over two straight cross-court kills while USF went on a 5-2 run to steal the lead at 11-10. After being tied twice more, the Dons used a 3-1 run to break a 12-12 gridlock and claim the 15-13 fifth-set win.
San Francisco (12-12, 6-5) was led by Sarah Mandala who turned in 27 kills and Haley Carroll who got behind 22 digs.
Portland next hosts WCC opponent Santa Clara at the Chiles Center on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 1:00 p.m. A special ceremony recognizing the graduating players will take place prior to first serve.
