James Salazar
Staff Writer
Both USF women’s volleyball and women’s basketball continued their winning ways this week, while another program made a comeback 10 months in the making. Here is your recap of this week in Dons’ sports.
USF women’s volleyball earned their first win of the season Feb. 2 in an epic, five-set comeback against the Loyola Marymount University Lions (25-22,13-25, 23-25, 26-24,15-12). Freshman Aylen Ayub recorded her third-straight double-double with 44 assists and 13 digs as well as four aces, five block assists, and two kills. Junior McKenna Marshall had a match-high 20 kills, surpassing her previous career-high of 18 in the process.
The Dons earned their second victory Feb. 3 with another win against the Lions (25-16, 22-25, 25-21, 18-25, 15-11). Freshman Greta Corti finished with a season-high 21 kills, while Marshall surpassed her previous career-high of 20 kills from the night before with a personal best 25 kills Feb. 3. Corti and Marshall’s performance also marked the first time since 2016 that two or more Dons have finished the same match with 20-plus kills.
On Feb. 4, USF women’s basketball extended their winning streak to five games with a 78-51 victory over the Saint Mary’s College of California Gaels. Their victory also marked the first time since the 1995-96 season that the Dons swept the season series against the Gaels. Redshirt freshman Ioanna Krimili led the team with a game-high 26 points. She also made six 3-pointers in the game, bringing her season total up to 64 3-point field goals made and positioning her in fifth place for most threes made in a single season at USF. Redshirt sophomore Marta Galic, senior Lucie Hoskova, and redshirt freshman Amalie Langer all finished the game in double-digits, with totals of 13, 12, and 10 points respectively.
The Dons also defeated the Pacific University Tigers Feb. 6 by a score of 75-67. This victory marked the first time since the 1995-96 season that the Dons have won six-consecutive West Coast Conference (WCC) games. Four Dons finished the game with 10 or more points. Krimili’s 24-point display lead the team, while Galic matched a career-high with 20 points, and Hoskova and Langer finished the game with 14 and 12 points to their names.
Krimili made four 3-pointers in the game, bringing her season total to 68. In doing so, she tied Rachel Howard for the third-most three-pointers made in a single season in Dons history and trails record-holder Shay Hollins by only nine threes.
After a 10-month delay, USF men’s and women’s cross country returned to action Feb. 5 at the Oregon XC Invite hosted by the University of Oregon Ducks. The women’s team finished in second place with 47 points. MacKenzie Yanek was the team’s top finisher, placing third overall in the women’s 5k race with a time of 16 minutes, 59.8 seconds. The men’s team finished third overall with 71 points. Senior Daniel Mangeloveg was the team’s highest finisher as he came in 11th place in the men’s 8k race with a time of 24 minutes, 54.4 seconds.
USF men’s baseball announced their truncated season will begin Feb. 19 against the University of California, Los Angeles Bruins, and WCC play will begin March 16 against the Saint Mary’s College of California Gaels.
At the time of writing, USF men’s basketball is still on a COVID hiatus. They are scheduled to return Feb. 10 against the Pepperdine University Waves. Prior to pausing their season, the Dons had a 10-8 win-loss record and were in fourth place in the WCC standings.
