Oct. 15, 2009

Box Score

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - It didn't end as the Gonzaga University women's volleyball team would have liked. Up 2-0 against the University of San Francisco, in a West Coast Conference match-up, the Bulldogs dropped the final three sets to allow the Dons to capture the 3-2 come-from-behind victory at War Memorial Gymnasium in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday evening. The Bulldogs, who were one set away from starting off the conference season with their best record since 1990, fell to 2-2 in WCC action and 6-11 overall with the 25-14, 25-14, 20-25, 14-25, 11-15 setback. The Dons improved to 7-10 overall and 2-2 in conference.

Gonzaga couldn't be stopped in the first two sets. The Bulldogs combined for 27 kills on 60 total attempts, with only two errors over the opening sets, for a smoking .417 hitting percentage. The Zags limited the Dons to 22 kills on 67 total attempts, with 17 hitting errors, for a 0.74 attacking clip.

Kelsey Bashaw and Layne Brosky both had seven kills and hit an impressive .777 over the first two sets. Kaprina Goodwin also had collected six of her match and career-high 10 block assists during the Bulldogs two wins.

It was a huge momentum switch after the intermission between sets two and three though. Gonzaga, steady and focused in the opening wins, was shaky and unnerved, while San Francisco, flustered during GU's wins, seemed confident and composed.

Gonzaga finished with only 28 kills total in the final three sets, just one more than it had collected during the two previous wins. The Bulldogs also became sloppy in their attack, miss hitting 13 balls and serving up four service errors. GU's offense wasn't the only thing that suffered as their defense had six reception errors.

The Dons were on point in their three-set comeback. They hammered home 40 kills and had a .304 hitting clip. Sarah Mandala, who was contained by Gonzaga's defense early on, collecting only six kills in the opening two sets, tallied 14 to lead the late USF charge.

Four players collected 10 kills apiece for Gonzaga. Kelsey Bashaw, Michelle Boevers, Layne Brosky and Caitlin Cozad had 40 of the Zags 55 total kills. Bashaw, whose 10 kills was a career-high, was two digs shy of a triple-double as she passed out 22 assists and registered eight digs.

Mandala and Anna Berger led the way for San Francisco finishing with 20 and 13 kills, respectively.

The Zags had 16 blocks in the setback to the Dons seven. Besides Goodwin's 10 block assists, Brosky added six block assists, Cozad had five block assists and Bashaw tallied four.

San Francisco held the lead in digs at 63-53 and held the slight edge in service aces at 6-3.

Gonzaga looks to rebound when it plays at Santa Clara University on Saturday, Oct. 17. The match is set for 1 p.m.