Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash.-The Gonzaga University volleyball team began a three-match homestand with a win Saturday, beating pesky Pacific Northwest foe Portland in three sets at the Martin Centre in Spokane, Wash.

The Zags took the match's first set 25-20, gaining that separation midway through the frame. After a three-point Portland run tied the set at 10, Gonzaga won four in a row to permanently take the lead. Junior McKayla Ferris started the stretch with a kill, and then she continued it by serving up an ace. After a Portland attack error gave Gonzaga another point, junior Emmy Allen capped it off by pounding home a kill. The Pilots gained brief respite with a sideout, but senior Jordan Gasser re-established that four point margin with a kill of her own. The Bulldogs won the next two points and then maintained at least a four-point margin through the end of the set.

In the second, the Pilots opened an early three point lead at 4-7, but the Zags ripped off five straight to retake the lead. Portland evened the match at 13 and 14, but another five point run â€" featuring two kills from Ferris, two service aces from senior Lauren Joseph, and a Portland error â€" gave Gonzaga a 19-15 advantage. Not giving up, the Pilots again tied the set at 21 and 22 before taking a brief lead at 22-23. Redshirt senior Savannah Blinn and the rest of the Bulldogs stiffened up, however, as Blinn ended the second set with three straight kills and a 25-23 set win for Gonzaga.

In the third set, Gonzaga was hit with an early 7-11 deficit, which the Pilots maintained after each side traded points for four points apiece. At that point, Gonzaga went on a five point run to take a lead with four kills â€" including the first three â€" coming from Blinn and one more from Allen. The teams again traded points, but Portland then put together three straight points for a 19-21 lead. GU answered with three straight of its own for a 22-21 advantage, and they traded points again until Blinn pounded down two straight kills for a 26-24 set victory and 3-0 match victory for the Bulldogs.

Bulldog Bites:

• Freshman Tiyana Hallums once again served as the Zags' libero, and Hallums was all over the court Saturday, posting a career high 19 digs against the Pilots. The Honolulu, Hawaii, native was consistent throughout the match, digging up six attacks in the first and second sets, and notching seven digs in the third. Her mark is the tied for the third-highest dig total of the year for Gonzaga, but highest in three-set matches. The Zags' season high of 22 came in both a four-set and a five-set match, and Macee Utecht's 19 digs came in a four-setter earlier in the year. As a team, the Zags had 61 digs against Portland, again the most in a three-set contest this season.
• Allen saw her best offensive match in a month, ending with nine kills, a .444 hit percentage, four sets, and nine digs. Those kill and hit percentage marks are her highest since Sept. 19, and the four assists are a season best. The Mill Creek, Wash., native was just one kill and one dig away from her second double-double of the year.
• Although Allen fell just short of a double-double, freshman Faith Smith tallied her seventh of the year with 17 assists and 12 digs. Those 12 digs are the second-highest of the West Coast Conference season for Smith, and it's the setter's fourth double-double against WCC competition.
• Blinn led the Bulldogs with 15 kills, reaching double-digits for the 11^th match in a row and 19^th match this season. The opposite hitter is now averaging 4.15 kills a set, which would be fourth in the conference.

Zag Speak:

Gonzaga head coach Dave Gantt

• "Obviously you have to give Portland credit because they keep digging balls, they keep hanging in there, they keep doing things that make you play. You can tell the ebb and flow of each set is based on whether or not if we pass/served. If we don't, then we have to defend. We're a good defensive team, but we don't dig balls the way they do. They're pretty scrappy."
• "I was proud of how we got stubborn at the end of the second set and the end of the third set. We made some things happen and were able to get a bit of separation on the defensive side, make some transitions in the second set, and then we were stubborn and made two plays in a row at the end of that set before they did."

Next Up:

Gonzaga (13-9, 4-5 WCC) will continue the homestand next weekend, hosting Santa Clara and San Francisco to begin the second half of conference play. The Bulldogs will start the weekend against the Broncos on Oct. 29 at 6:00 p.m. Santa Clara won the earlier match between the two squads in four sets Oct. 3.