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SPOKANE, Wash.-The Gonzaga University volleyball team ran into a Loyola Marymount team that was firing on all cylinders Thursday night, falling to the Lions in three sets (25-18, 25-19, 25-18) at the Martin Centre in Spokane.

Loyola Marymount hit .398 on the night, including .483 in the first set. Gonzaga kept within range of the Lions during the first half of the frame, forcing three tie scores and staying within two points until the 12-10 mark. Then, LMU won three straight for a five-point lead. After a Bulldog timeout, Emmy Allen landed back-to-back kills to cut the margin down to three, but the Zags would come no closer as Loyola Marymount took the frame by seven.

The second set started out tighter as the Zags kept pace until a late LMU run. The Lions did take a four-point lead at 14-10, but Gonzaga whittled that advantage down, coming within one point at four subsequent times. With the score at 19-18 in favor of the visitors, LMU finished the frame on a 6-1 run for a 2-0 match advantage.

After the break, Gonzaga's offense emerged a bit as the Zags hit a match-best .280. They forced six tie scores in the period â€" a match high â€" and held the lead as late as 13-14. In the beginning, they used a varied attack to take a three-point lead at 9-12, getting kills from Allen, Sarah Bradley, Katelyn Oppio, and McKayla Ferris prior to that scoreline. The Lions responded, however, taking the frame 25-18 and the match three sets to none.

Bulldog Bites:

• Allen led all players with 15 kills Thursday night, pairing those with just two errors for a .419 attack percentage. That mark was her second highest of the season, and she's now reached double-digit kills in 11 of Gonzaga's 12 West Coast Conference matches.
• Loyola Marymount's .398 hitting percentage was the second-highest by a Gonzaga opponent this year; on Sept. 16, top-ranked Nebraska hit .442 against the Zags. GU has only allowed five opponents to hit .300 or better this season.
• After Thursday's loss, the Zags split the season series with Loyola Marymount with each team winning on the other's home court. On Oct. 8, Gonzaga downed LMU in five sets in Los Angeles. This is the third time in the past four seasons the two clubs have split the season series.
• Bradley made her first start of the season Thursday night. It was only the eighth of her career after starting seven matches during the 2014 campaign.

Zag Speak: Thoughts from Gonzaga head coach Diane Nelson

"I have to give it to LMU, they were pretty unbeatable. They passed everything we threw at them, and they out-played us defensively. It was hard to get anything going. They were on a mission, and we were always a click off the whole night…They got the best of us."

Next Up:

Gonzaga (13-9, 6-6 WCC) wraps up the homestand Saturday, Nov. 5, against Pepperdine. That match begins at 12:00 p.m., again at the Martin Centre. Last month, the Zags downed the Waves 3-1 in Malibu, California, giving GU its first-ever road win over Pepperdine.