Box Score

SAN FRANCISCO--A furious comeback by the Gonzaga University volleyball squad fell just short Thursday night as the Bulldogs were edged 3-2 in five sets by San Francisco at War Memorial Gym in San Francisco.

GU fell behind early by dropping sets one and two, the first one in agonizing fashion. USF started the match by taking four of the first five points, but GU returned the favor during the next five points to tie the set at five apiece. The teams then traded leads until an 11-11 score, but two kills from senior Savannah Blinn sandwiched one from sophomore Kaylie Loewen for a three point GU advantage. Gonzaga kept that advantage for much of the set, even taking set point at 24-22. The Dons rallied to tie the frame at 24-all, and they prevailed in an elongated first set 30-28.

In set two, senior Jordan Gasser scored the first point for Gonzaga, but the Dons took the next four for a lead Gonzaga couldn't fully eliminate. The Zags came within two at 12-10 on consecutive kills from Blinn and Loewen, but that was the closest they came as the Dons took the frame 25-17.

Coming out of the break, Gonzaga took a 5-3 lead in the first set, but the Dons responded with a 9-1 run for a 12-6 set advantage. Junior Paige Folger halted the run with a kill, and the Zags went to work cutting their six point deficit to just two. San Francisco called timeout and later earned a sideout, but the Zags powered through to take a two point lead at 17-15. The Bulldogs then held on for the set win, battling through five more tie scores to take the frame in extra points 27-25. Junior Macee Utecht got the set-winning kill for Gonzaga.

Gonzaga forced a fifth set with a 25-18 victory in the fourth. With the frame tied up at nine points apiece, the Zags received a two point lead on two San Francisco errors, and they didn't give the lead back. A five point run with kills from Loewen and Wimbush along with blocks from Gasser and junior Paige Folger gave the Zags six point advantage. They took the frame by seven.

In the deciding fifth frame, the two teams essentially traded points early, but the Dons used a 7-1 run in the middle of the frame to take a 12-5 lead. Gonzaga countered with 5-1 stretch of its own, but it wasn't enough as the Dons hung on for a 15-11 set victory and 3-2 match win.

Bulldog Bites

• This was the fifth consecutive match between San Francisco and Gonzaga to go five sets. Both matches in both 2013 and 2014 went the distance with Gonzaga winning each and every one of them. Last season in San Francisco, the Zags came back from two sets down at intermission for the win during the first contest between the two sides.
• The Gonzaga comeback was spurred on by play at the net as 10 of their 13 team blocks came in sets three and four, the ones GU won. Loewen led the way with seven blocks - two solo blocks and five block assists - and junior Paige Folger added five block assists. The Bulldogs have now not been outblocked in 10 matches, and they've lead the team blocking category in each of their last six.
• Gonzaga set yearly highs in kills (70), assists (63), and digs (74) against the Dons. It's also the first match of the season in which three GU players reached double-digit digs (Gasser: 15, Faith Smith and Tiyana Hallums 13 each).
• Blinn posted 23 kills during the five-setter, matching her season high originally set Sept. 5 versus Utah. That mark is the most by any individual Zag this season. With 1,491 career kills, she's 15 away from taking third place overall on Gonzaga's all-time kills list.
• Wimbush's 13 kills were a season high and her most since flooring 17 attacks Oct. 10, 2014 at Santa Clara. It's the middle blocker's third-highest kill total and seventh double-digit kill match of her career.

Zag Speak

Gonzaga head coach Dave Gantt

"Our team has a ton of character and the coaching staff was proud that we battled back. Passing and serving were the uncharacteristic culprits this evening, though. We outhit them, we outdug them, and we outblocked them. But in spite of those efforts, we lost the serve and serve/receive battle and that was the difference. Although USF served tough, we missed our chance to win the first set and that was the difference in the match. We created an opportunity to win that set but couldn't convert. It certainly came back to haunt us."

Next Up

The Gonzaga volleyball squad (11-5, 2-1 WCC) will continue its first road trip of the 2015 West Coast Conference season Saturday, Oct. 3, when the Zags take on Santa Clara. That match will take place at 2:00 p.m. at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara, Calif.