Nov. 4, 2010

Box Score

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Gonzaga University women's volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision at Santa Clara University in West Coast Conference action Thursday night. With the loss (13-25, 25-14, 21-25, 17-25), the Bulldogs (2-24, 0-10) have lost 22 in a row, while the victory improved the Broncos record to 13-11 overall and 4-6 in league.

Despite a lopsided 25-14 first set loss, the Bulldogs bounced back to earn their own 11-point lopsided victory in the second set. After connecting for just seven kills in the opening set, and allowing the Broncos to tally 16, the Gonzaga's offense clicked, finishing with 19 kills, only five errors, on 37 total attempts for a .378 hitting percentage. Santa Clara was held to nine kills in the 25-14 win, with four errors, also on 37 attempts for a .135 attacking clip.

The second set was close early on, until Gonzaga turned a slight one point edge at 9-8 to a nine point lead at 20-11 with an 11-3 run. A true team effort gave the Bulldogs the lead as five players had at least one kill in the spurt, with sophomore Jessie Genger tallying the most with three. A sixth Zag got into the action when sophomore Terran Poindexter had back-to-back kills to give them their then-largest lead of the contest at 22-12. Gonzaga won the set on an attack error by the Broncos Kayla Lommori.

The Broncos took the 2-1 lead after a late set surge earned them the 25-21 third set victory. Gonzaga battled back from four down to tie the set at 17-17 on the strength of junior Laura Day's two kills, a Schylur Edelman service ace and a SCU attack error but all GU's work to get back into the contest faded quickly as Santa Clara went on a 5-0 run to take a huge 22-17 advantage. The Bulldogs did get within two of the lead at 23-21, but a SCU kill followed by a Bronco block sealed the four-point victory.

Gonzaga fell apart in the fourth set allowing Santa Clara to run out to a fast 14-5 lead. The Broncos secured the 10 point advantage on back-to-back service aces by Alexandra Palmer. Day did out-do Palmer points later with three-straight service aces of her own to pull the Bulldogs within six of the lead at 16-10. The Broncos earned the set and match victory though on a Bulldog ball handling error.

The Bulldogs finished with 45 kills and a .148 hitting percentage. Edelman and Genger led Gonzaga with nine kills apiece. Senior Caitlin Cozad added seven and Poindexter finished with six. Junior setter Denise Van de Mortel passed out 31 assists, had nine digs and three blocks.

Senior libero Allyson Powell had a team-high 25 digs for the Zags. She now needs 26 digs to break the single-season dig record of 436, set by Linda Bushinski in 1986.

The Broncos were led by Lommori with 18 kill, nine digs and four blocks.

Gonzaga closes out its final road trip of the season at the University of San Francisco Saturday. Match time is set for 1 p.m.