Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash.--On Senior Day, the Gonzaga University volleyball team's seniors shined during a near upset of No. 12 BYU at the Martin Centre. Gonzaga won the first two sets Saturday, but the West Coast Conference-leading Cougars bounced back to win the final three, escaping Spokane with a win.

In the first set, BYU held a five-point lead as late as 13-18, but a pair of kills from Kaylie Loewen and Jordan Gasser started Gonzaga's comeback. After a BYU sideout, the Bulldogs scored six in a row to take a lead at 21-19. Gasser pounded two kills during the stretch, junior McKayla Ferris found one, and the Zags benefited from three BYU errors as well. After a few trading points, junior Emmy Allen gave Gonzaga set point with a kill, and two points later senior Savannah Blinn ended the frame with a blast, her sixth kill of the set.

The Zags never trailed in the second set, taking the early lead with three straight kills from Ferris and never looking back. After trading points for a bit, the Zags sandwiched a BYU sideout with a two-point streak and a three-point streak for a 12-6 advantage. That margin held, and the Zags opened up a nine-point lead at 21-12 after Gasser floored two kills and BYU assisted with an attack error. The Cougars made a minor run at the end of the frame, but Blinn pounded home Gonzaga's final two kills of the set, clinching it at 25-20.

BYU pulled even by winning the third and fourth sets. In the third, Gonzaga took a 10-13 lead, but that margin was reversed when the Cougars went on an 8-1 run in the middle of the frame. Kills from Binn and Allen along with a BYU error brought the Zags within one at 19-20, but the teams traded sideouts until the visitors clinched the set. In the fourth, the Cougars opened up a large lead and were able to fight off a spirited Gonzaga rally to tie the match at two sets apiece.

The fifth frame was just as tight as the previous four hinted it would be. Gonzaga started off by taking the first three points and going up 1-5, but a BYU timeout halted the run. The Cougars rallied back to tie the set at 7-all, and they went ahead 8-7 as the teams switched sides. The teams traded two-point runs at that point, and consecutive kills from Blinn gave Gonzaga a match point at 14-12. Alexa Gray earned a sideout for the Cougars, and they ripped off three more points to end the match and spoil the Bulldogs' bid at an upset.

Bulldog Bites:

• Three of Gonzaga's four seniors saw action on Senior Day, and they all three played key roles in the Zags' near-upset of the 12^th-ranked Cougars. Blinn led the squad with 20 kills, her fourth 20-kill match of the season, and Gasser was just one off that pace at 19. Gasser also hit a team-leading .441 against the Cougars, and together the pair accounted for over half of Gonzaga's 72 kills. Fellow senior Lauren Joseph came off the bench and set for three of GU's rotations, meanwhile, dishing out a season-high 28 assists. She also added six digs, and Blinn added two blocks to her point tally against BYU.
• Blinn, Gasser, Joseph, and fellow senior Deanna Nielson were all honored before the match for their dedication and effort to Gonzaga volleyball over the last four years. Blinn and Nielson have been on the team for five years while Gasser and Joseph have spent four roaming the Martin Centre court. Nielson lost her senior season due to a preseason injury and was unable to play in her final career home match.
• Both Allen and Ferris ended the match with 12 kills apiece. That's Allen's third consecutive and ninth overall match of double-digit kills, while Ferris added 12 digs for her second double-double of the season.

Zag Speak:

Gonzaga head coach Dave Gantt:

"There's no question that the best series of sets we've played this year have come in the last two matches. We've played some, but not against teams like that [San Diego was ranked No. 23 for Nov. 12's contest]. Kudos to our team because they stretched it out on Thursday, and they did the same thing today. It's unfortunate that they just didn't validate it today either. Today, we're one point away at 14-12, but we gave up a four-point run. It's unfortunate, but that's the time you have to get it done."

"There's good because we competed and we fought hard and we did some things that are very encouraging. The seniors put the team on their backs and carried us, and that was fabulous. We were really pleased that Lauren came in and was an answer to smooth out those three rotations. My heart goes out to them because they're the ones that don't get another shot, but also my heart feels good for them because I know how much they extended themselves to try and get this done. They were spent when we were finished. Looking back, they'll feel good about that part of it."

"Kudos to BYU, they could have been done in three but they fought back; that's why they're ranked in the top 15 of the country. You have to beat them; you have to play the whole time."

Next Up:

The Bulldogs (14-14, 5-10 WCC) will wrap up the 2015 regular season with a three-match road trip that will begin next weekend in Northern California. They open the road swing Thursday, Nov. 19 at Saint Mary's in Moraga, Calif. That match will begin at 7:00 p.m.