Aug. 28, 2010

Box Score

GRAND FOLKS, N.D. - It was starting to feel like déjà vu for the Gonzaga University women's volleyball squad. The Bulldogs opened their final match of the North Dakota Classic winning the first two sets over Cal State Bakersfield but faltered, dropping the next two sets - like they did to the University of North Dakota a day earlier. This time though the Zags changed the ending, battling back-and-fourth in the fifth and deciding set, to take a 15-13 decision and ultimately the 3-2 (25-22, 25-14, 19-25, 25-27, 15-13) win over the Roadrunners.

The Bulldogs return to Spokane with a 2-2 record while the Roadrunners closed out the tournament at 0-3.

"We played pretty good volleyball in the first set," stated second year head coach Dave Gantt after his team finished third at the tournament. "We did some really nice things after making some adjustments to our deficiencies from our earlier match. The second set is probable the best set we have played both on offense and defense. Unfortunately we didn't continue that into the third or fourth set, we fell short. We let Bakersfield get the momentum but decided to play in the fifth set and got the victory."

The Bulldogs could have folded after the memories of Friday's North Dakota match flooded back into their minds; a match where the Zags won the first two sets 25-23, 26-24 but let the Fighting Sioux win the next three, including a lopsided 15-8 fifth set. But GU didn't. Gonzaga and Cal State Bakersfield played neck-and-neck in the final set, and with the score knotted at 13-13, the ninth tie of the set, the Bulldogs rattled off two-straight points for the win.

Gonzaga broke the 13-13 tie on a Bakersfield service error and won the set and match when Denise Van de Mortel and Schylur Edelman combined to block Lindy DeGear's attack attempt.

"Thank goodness for Deni [Van de Mortel] and Schylur [Edelman] blocking the ball for match point," said Gantt.

Van de Mortel finished with an impressive all-around game for the Bulldogs. The junior setter nearly had a triple-double as she dished out 50 assists, had 12 digs and made a career-high seven blocks.

Also having another strong performance defensively was senior libero Allyson Powell, named to the All-Tournament team after closing out the final match with a career-tying high 31 digs.

"I commend Ally," said Gantt. "Last year we put her in position to dig a lot of ball and she dug half of them. Her learning curve has been steep though. This year she is in the same position and is digging 80-85 percent and as our block gets better that number will grow."

Powell finished the tournament with 81 total digs.

Gonzaga had its best offense night of the tournament, finishing with 66 total kills, with only 23 errors, on 191 attack attempts for a .225 hitting percentage. Junior Kaprina Goodwin found her form, closing out the match with a team-high 13 kills. Senior Caitlin Cozad added 11 and sophomore Jessie Genger contributed nine.

"The person who was a steady influence in all three sets we won tonight was Jessie," explained Gantt. "Her on-court presence is huge. She does a great job talking and is that steady, calm player we need."

Genger also had three digs, two blocks and three assists in the match.

Cal State Bakersfield was led by DeGeare and Haleigh Haratyk who both collected double-doubles. DeGeare had 18 kills and 14 digs, while Haratyk had 18 kills and 17 digs. Lauren Holderman finished with a match-high 33 digs.

Gonzaga now has a week to prepare for the Northwest Challenge, hosted this year by Boise State University. The Bulldogs open the tournament against Boise State Friday and then play Portland State University and the University of Washington Saturday.