Oct. 22, 2004

Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash. - On the floor Gonzaga University and the University of Portland played an evenly matched contest on Friday night in Spokane but it was the Pilots who were able to sneak out the 3-1 win after winning games one and four 32-30 over the host Bulldogs in West Coast Conference action. Portland improved to 10-10 on the season and 1-6 in the WCC winning 32-30, 24-30, 30-21 and 32-30. Gonzaga falls to 4-17 overall, 0-7 in the WCC as the teams completed the first half of the WCC schedule.

The Pilots finished the night hitting .199 as a team while Gonzaga posted a .180 clip. The Bulldogs could not find an answer for Pilots attacker Sara Vercruyssen who finished with a match-high 23 kills on 64 attacks. Gonzaga countered with seniors Lauren Armas and Rebecca Wood, each player finishing with 13 kills for Gonzaga.

Michelle Oakland added 18 kills for Portland as each team had four players reach double-figure kills. Liz Lord added 12 for the Pilots while Monique Kettler had 10. Briawna Mueller collected 11 kills and Becky Jones 10 kills to round out the Gonzaga players with double-digit kills.

On the defensive side both teams had exceptional nights digging the ball. Portland finished with 101 digs while Gonzaga had 92. Three Pilots had 20 or more digs led by Vercruyssen with 24. Jessica Herrera led all players with 26 digs for Gonzaga while setter Emilee Gihring added 16. Gonzaga also dominated play at the net with 27 blocks. Mueller led the Bulldogs defensive wall with nine blocks, four of them solos. Oakland was the top Pilots blocker with six blocks, two solo.

"Our defense really played well tonight finishing with 92 digs. Jessica (Herrera) continues to be a solid back row player for us and Briawna (Mueller) is developing into a great blocker with every match with play," mentioned head coach Kip Yoshimura on the play of some of his top defensive players from Friday night.

Gonzaga returns to action next weekend when they host the University of San Diego and Santa Clara University at Martin Centre. Both matches will start at 7 p.m.