Oct. 27, 2009

Box Score

MOSCOW, Idaho - It is safe to say that senior Emily Johnson was not going to let the University of Idaho defeat the Gonzaga University women's volleyball team Tuesday night. With the set tied 2-2, Johnson exploded, tallying six kills, two digs and one block to help the Zags win the deciding fifth-set 15-6. The Bulldogs, who have now defeated the Vandals four-straight years, earned the 25-22, 19-25, 26-24, 24-26, 15-6 victory to improve to 8-13 on the year. Idaho is now 11-12 overall.

"It was one of Emily's best performances from start to finish," explained head coach Dave Gantt. "She played extremely well all-around - offensively, on the pass and receive and at the net. She was in a great position to be an impact in the fifth set and she was"

Johnson registered personal highs on the night, finishing with a career-high 18 kills and a career-high 16 digs. She also added two service aces and three block assists.

"Give our team credit for sticking with it when we weren't playing that well," said Gantt after the match. "I like what we did in the first set, but checked out a little bit in the second set. We came back and established a good level of play in the third set, stuck with our game plan and won the set."

Gonzaga used a solid and well-rounded offensive attack to win the first set. The Bulldogs, who had eight of 10 players register at least one kill in the opening set, finished with 15 kills and only two errors for a .371 hitting clip. Senior teammates Michelle Boevers and Layne Brosky led the way with four apiece. The Vandals registered 17 kills, but had eight errors for a .237 attacking percentage.

The turning point for Gonzaga in set one was a seven-serve performance by Johnson that turned a one-point deficit into a six-point lead at 12-6. Johnson served up two aces during the swing, while junior Caitlin Cozad and freshman Terran Poindexter both had kills. The run was capped off by back-to-back Zag blocks. Idaho did cut into the lead and was one point away from tying the match at 23-22 but a kill by Broksy followed by a mishit by Vandal Anna McKinney secured the victory for GU.

Set two was a different story as the Vandals ran out to an 8-3 lead. Gonzaga was able to slice Idaho's edge to two at 9-7 but Idaho continued its dominance pushing its advantage to nine at 21-12. The Bulldogs did claw their way back into the set, rattling off a 7-2 spurt that put the Vandals lead at just four, 23-19. A timeout by Idaho stopped Gonzaga's momentum as it came out of the huddle with a kill by Alicia Milo followed by an attack by Zag Kelsey Bashaw that went long to give it the victory.

The Vandals had 17 kills in the second set with four errors on 40 total attempts for a .325 hitting percentage. The Bulldogs registered 12 kills and six errors on 39 total attempts for the .154 attacking clip.

Set three was dominated by blocks for Gonzaga and service aces for Idaho. The Bulldogs registered five blocks in their victory while the Vandals served up six aces. The biggest aces for Idaho came late in the set when libero Meredith Rice pounded out two-straight to cut GU's three point lead to one at 20-19. The Vandals again got the best of the Bulldogs as Katie Tribley served up their nine ace of the match to put the score at 23-23. It was Gonzaga's defense that kept Idaho from taking the late lead as sophomore Denise Van de Mortel and Cozad stuffed and Idaho attack attempt to give GU the 24-23 advantage. The Bulldogs finally gained the victory after a kill by Boevers, her 12th of the match, followed by an attack error by Milo.

Gonzaga had 15 kills in the third set, along with five errors on 37 attempts for a .270 hitting percentage. Idaho collected 12 kills and had eight errors on 42 attack attempts for a .095 attacking percentage.

The Bulldogs seemed to be on their way to the match victory in the fourth set; serving match point at 24-23. Unfortunately, a kill by UI's Milo tied the set at 24 all. The Vandals followed with a kill by Kelsey Taylor to gain the lead and pushed the set to the fifth and deciding set on an attack error by Boevers.

The fifth set was all Gonzaga as it rushed out to a 6-0 lead, with Johnson having one block and two kills in the opening run. The Vandals finally got on the board after a Bulldog attack error but never could get back into the set as the Zags push its advantage to 12-4 and finally claimed the victory on a kill by Boevers.

"We were one point away from winning the fourth set but couldn't make the play and at that point it was really up to the team. It was nothing tactical; they just had to have the sheer determination in the fifth set. So it was nice to see us come out and score the first point on the receive and then go up 6-0 which forced Idaho to burn both timeouts. So kudos to our group for hanging in there and doing what we needed to do to get the W."

Besides Johnson, Boevers added 15 kills and Brosky had 11. As a team, Gonzaga finished with 64 total kills and a .220 attacking clip. Idaho was led by Milo and Sarah Conwell who had 20 and 19 kills, respectively. The

Vandals closed out the match with 63 kills and a .151 hitting percentage. Gonzaga held the 86-76 advantage in digs and the 12.5-9 edge in blocks. Idaho had 11 service aces to GU's three.

Gonzaga returns to action Saturday, Oct. 31 when it begins the second half of West Coast Conference play at the University of Portland. Match time is set for 1 p.m.