Sept. 4, 2010

Box Score

BOISE, Idaho - It was a rollercoaster of a match between the Gonzaga University women's volleyball team and Portland State University Saturday at the Northwest Challenge in Boise, Idaho. Unfortunately the Bulldogs lost the thrilling five-set match, falling in the fifth and deciding set 15-13. The Zags record dropped to 2-4 on the year after the 14-25, 25-18, 8-25, 25-23, 13-15 setback, while the Vikings improved to 3-1.

"We obviously competed better today than we did against Boise State yesterday," explained head coach Dave Gantt, whose team was swept by Boise State Friday evening. "We created an opportunity for ourselves but when you look in the belly of the beast, you have to have an answer. It is not good enough to get there, you have to finish. I really liked our personality today though."

Despite the lopsided 25-14 loss in the first set, Gonzaga clicked in the second set, playing its best volleyball of the weekend thus far. The Zags turned a slight 5-4 advantage into an 11-5 lead on the strength of its blocking. Bulldog senior Schylur Edelman combined with redshirt freshman Meredith Crenshaw, sophomore Kylie Edinger and junior Denise Van de Mortel to block the next three Viking attack attempts. After PSU was out of rotation, sophomore Terran Poindexter came up with a big dig, which turned into a kill by senior Caitlin Cozad. Cozad returned the favor; picking up a ball and allowing Poindexter a hard back row kill to take the six-point advantage.

Portland State would climb back into the set, getting within five points late, but back-to-back kills by Edelman and sophomore Jessie Genger sealed the 25-18 victory.

"We hit, blocked and defended better in the second set," stated Gantt. "We had the 7-1 advantage in blocks and sided out at 68 percent. We were passing and serving and just running our offense."

Gonzaga was put back on its heels in the third set, as Portland State used a quick 8-0 run to break the set apart at 10-3. The Vikings served up five aces in the set and hit a blistering .389 to take the 25-8 win.

With the switch of the benches, the Bulldogs hard-nosed mentality clicked once again. Cozad put on the setter hat for two plays, helping break an 11-11 tie with back-to-back assists to Edinger who pushed the Zags lead to 13-11. Portland State, like it had done in set two, was out of rotation on the next play to give Gonzaga a nice three-point cushion.

Despite five services errors by the Vikings, they continued to battle the Bulldogs in set four, pulling within one of the lead late at 23-22 on a kill by Lana Zielke. A monster block by both Edelman and Edinger got the lead to 24-22, but another kill by Zielke kept the final outcome a mystery. Edelman solved the mystery on the next play with a kill for the victory.

"Kudos to both Edelman and Edinger today," explained Gantt. "Edinger played strong in her position on the defensive end, a position that is relatively new to her. Edelman did what was asked, getting points for us offensively and with the block."

Gonzaga and Portland State were neck and neck in the fifth set with the Vikings holding the slight 8-7 lead at the turn. After a block assist by Van de Mortel and Edelman, Portland State made its move with a kill by Kaeli Patton followed by a service ace by Nicole Bateham, her third of the match. PSU pushed its lead to a 3-point advantage at 14-11 and GU just couldn't make up three points defensively as the Vikings earned the win on a kill Whitney Phillips 22nd kill of the match.

Gonzaga finished the match with 43 kills and a .140 hitting percentage. Cozad and Edelman both finished with double-digits kills at 14 and 11, respectively. Genger added nine.

Van de Mortel collected her third double-double on the year, passing out 34 assists and collecting a team-high 15 digs. She also added four block assists.

Besides Phillips 22 kills, Megan Ellis added 11 and Zielke had 10. Portland State hit .236 on the afternoon, with 64 kills.

Gonzaga closed out the Northwest Challenge at 4 p.m. PDT with a match against the University of Washington, ranked No. 9 in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll.