SPOKANE, Wash. – The Gonzaga volleyball team faced No. 1 BYU Saturday afternoon with confidence, battling the Cougars for every point in front of nearly 1,400 strong in the Martin Centre. But the nation's top team terminated at critical points to leave Spokane with a 3-0 win (25-19, 25-20, 25-23).
 
"I couldn't be more proud of what [we] brought," head volleyball coach Diane Nelson said. "We came to compete…We were prepared for them, we knew what they were going to bring, and that gave us all the confidence in the world to be free when we played."
 
Gonzaga (6-16, 4-8 WCC) was led by Sarah Penner with a team-high 13 kills hitting at a .333 clip while Kennedy Croft added nine. Faith Smith led the Bulldogs with 18 assists while Tiyana Hallums added 10 digs.
 
"I've never been more proud of this team," Hallums said. "I've never seem my team fight like this. This whole season, that's what I've been waiting for…I've never felt that kind of energy in all my four years of being here. It was wild; everyone did their job and we were so close."
 
The match, which featured 26 lead changes and 12 ties, was never out of Gonzaga's reach. The Bulldogs connected for kills on their first four attempts of the first set to start the match hitting at a sizzling .800. With the Bulldogs up 6-5 early, BYU (22-0, 12-0 WCC) strung together nine unanswered points to gain its largest lead of the match, 15-6. The Zags responded with a big 11-5 run to cut the lead to three (20-17).
 
Yet BYU was able to halt GU's comeback attempt in the final plays, terminating at a .419 clip in the first set including three crucial kills in the final plays of the first set. A Bulldog attacking error on match point for the Cougars gave BYU the 25-19 first set win.
 
Perry Ramsey started things off for the Zags in the second with a big kill, but multiple hitting errors ensued allowing the Cougars to jump ahead 9-5. The Zags responded with a few big blocks coupled with some crafty kills to tie the set 10-all. The two teams traded points for the next few plays, but a BYU kill late gave the Cougars a two-point cushion, 21-19. That was all they needed as they finished on a 4-1 run to take the second set 25-20.
 
The third set was a back-and-forth high-intensity battle. The Zags nearly matched the Cougars offensively, connecting for 13 kills hitting .250 compared to BYU's 18 kills hitting .268. BYU started quickly behind three straight kills from Roni Jones-Perry, but a Bulldog ace and a kill from Penner tied things up at 4-4.
 
The third set alone had 11 ties and five lead changes. With the match tied 20-all, the Bulldogs put together two straight points with a BYU error and a kill from Perry. The Cougars responded, capitalizing on a GU hitting error and a kill of their own to tie things once more, 22-all. The two squads traded kills to reach the 11th and final tie of the match at 23-all. BYU sealed the match with back-to-back kills to escape Spokane without a set loss.
 
"[This is a] huge confidence booster," Hallums said. "Not one team has been able to take off a set from them, and we were so close. There is nobody better than that team, in the country. And they've proved that. The fact that we were that close means that we should be able to get some revenge in the rest of conference."
 
Gonzaga continues play on the road next week beginning at San Francisco on Nov. 1 at 7:00 p.m.