Nov. 22, 2003

Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University combined for a .306 hitting percentage on Saturday night as the Bulldogs volleyball team sent out its four-member senior class with a 3-1 victory over the University of Portland in West Coast Conference action. Gonzaga finished the season at 4-26 overall, 1-13 in the WCC, the win tonight allowing the Bulldogs to avoid their first-ever winless conference season. Portland finishes the season at 11-18, 1-13 in the WCC, the Pilots lone WCC win coming over Gonzaga in late October. Gonzaga won the match 26-30, 30-25, 30-21 and 30-18.

"I'm excited that we were able to send out our seniors with a victory tonight," said head coach Kip Yoshimura following the Bulldogs win. "We had two seniors who played really well in their final matches and it's always good to end your season on a high note."

The two seniors Yoshimura mentioned were middle blocker Abby Cullen and outside hitter Natasha Kozen. Each player finished with a match-high 20 kills with Kozen picking up 7 blocks (3 solo) and a team-high 12 digs. Cullen had the hot hand of the Bulldogs offense with a .529 attacking percentage in her final collegiate match. Christina Davis also added 10 kills and 11 digs.

Portland had a trio of players reach double figure kills with Heather Denison leading the way with 17 kills on 52 attack attempts. Monique Kettler had 13 kills and Murphy McClenahan added 12 to round out the Pilots top attackers. Sheena Surplus had a match-high 15 digs while added 49 assists.

The teams were closely matched in several statistical categories as Gonzaga had 63 kills to Portland's 61 while the Bulldogs also won the digs battle 62-57. The difference in the match was at the net as Gonzaga had a .306 attack percentage compared to only .123 for the Pilots. Gonzaga also dominated the blocking battle with 17 team blocks compared to just 4 team blocks for the Pilots.

"We did a good job of taking advantage of offensive opportunities tonight," added Yoshimura. "Emilee (Gihring) did a good job of setting up our attackers and Abby, Natasha and Christina all finished off those sets. We also did a good job of getting to our defensive positions and you can see that from the blocking numbers we were able to put up against their attacks."

Bulldogs senior Heather Signor finished her career with 11digs to finish second on the all-time Gonzaga career digs list. She also finished third on the single-season digs list finishing the 2003 season with 406digs. The Bulldogs four senior Jamie VanMeetren had two kills and one dig during limited action. Jessica Herrera also finished with 12 digs to lead the Zags while Gihring had 53 assists.