Gonzaga Notes | San Francisco Preview | Santa Clara Preview

LAST TIME OUT:

• Gonzaga had a short week last week, squaring off against Pacific Northwest foe and travel partner Portland...the Zags swept the Pilots, setting a three-set season high with 57 digs...during the first two sets, the Zags pulled ahead midway through the frames, and in the third, they came from behind at 15-17 to take the set 25-22 and the match 3-0.
• Senior OH McKayla Ferris paced the offense, landing 19 kills with a season-best .417 attack percentage against the Pilots...those 19 kills are the most by a Bulldog in three sets this year...senior L Morgan Douglass, meanwhile, led all players with 18 digs, a personal season best...senior OH Emmy Allen added 13 kills while freshman S Jenna Kuehn posted a double-double with 13 assists and 10 digs.

NINE DOWN, NINE TO GO:

• With nine West Coast Conference matches finished, the Zags have a 5-4 record through the first half of conference play...this is the fourth time in program history they've posted a winning mark in the first half of WCC action and second in three years...in 2014, they went 5-4 to open conference play as well...in 1989, the Zags were 4-3 in the first seven matches (14-match league schedule), and one year later they were 6-1.
• Gonzaga played five WCC matches at home, sweeping San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Portland while falling to ranked San Diego and BYU squads...on the road, they went 2-2 with a historic weekend sweep of the SoCal schools Oct. 6 and 8.

HEY, WE REMEMBER YOU!:

• The weekend's matches will be the second in a month against San Francisco and Santa Clara...the Zags swept USF in three sets at home to open October...three Zags reached double digits in the digs category and Emmy Allen landed 11 kills on a .526 attack percentage against the Dons...two days earlier, Gonzaga opened its home slate with a 3-0 win over Santa Clara thanks to a .327 team hitting percentage, its highest in WCC play...Imani Wimbush hit .600 with 14 kills in the match, both season highs.
• Gonzaga now leads the series with USF 33-28 after including this year's earlier result...the Bulldogs have won six of the last seven matches between the two clubs dating back to 2013.
• Santa Clara, meanwhile, leads Gonzaga 48-11 after Sept. 29th's GU victory...the Zags are 4-3 against the Broncos since 2013, however, winning in Santa Clara during both the 2013 and 2014 seasons...overall, they're 6-23 at the Leavey Center.

MARKING MILESTONES:
Numerous Zags are approaching or recently set career milestones, including:

Emmy Allen:

• Tallied 500th kill as a Bulldog Oct. 22 versus Portland.

Morgan Douglass:

• 111 digs away from 1,000.

McKayla Ferris

• 84 kills away from 1,000...would be 14th member of 1,000-kill club at GU.

Paige Folger:

• Three block assists away from 325 and fifth place all-time in GU history.
• Three total blocks away from 354 and sixth place all-time in GU history.

Faith Smith

• 1,092 assists...moved into 10th all-time in Gonzaga history Oct. 22.

Imani Wimbush

• 14 kills away from 500...25 blocks away from 300.

D(OUBLE-U CC) IS FOR DEFENSE:

• The Gonzaga defense has come alive during West Coast Conference action...the Zags are second in the WCC with 2.58 blocks per set against conference foes and second with 15.06 digs per frame as well...both marks are higher than GU's overall stats (15.06 vs. 2.43 b/s; 15.06 vs. 14.69 d/s).
• Two Zags are among the conference's Top 10 in blocks per set: Paige Folger, who's fifth with 1.10 b/s versus WCC foes, and Katelyn Oppio at seventh with 1.06...no Bulldogs are among the Top 10 in digs, but Tiyana Hallums averages 3.18 and Morgan Douglass 3.00 d/s...Faith Smith is close behind at 2.90.

EXPERIENCE ALWAYS HELPS:

• As could be expected, Gonzaga's six seniors play a large role on the squad...the four leading attackers are all seniors, and 756 of the team's 905 kills (83.5 %) come from a senior. At the net, they account for 116.5 of the team's 170.0 total blocks (68.5%)...the team leader in blocks, Katelyn Oppio, is a freshman, but the next five are all seniors.
• Three seniors - Emmy Allen, Paige Folger, and Imani Wimbush - have not missed a match this season, and both Allen and Folger have played in all 70 sets...those three plus McKayla Ferris are typical starters, and Morgan Douglass has played as libero in the last three matches.

LAST MATCH'S STARTING LINEUP: