SPOKANE, Wash. – The Gonzaga volleyball team finished a perfect weekend with a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 26-24, 25-18) of San Francisco Saturday afternoon at the Martin Centre. Nearly 700 strong were in attendance as the Bulldogs surged ahead for their second-straight win.
"It's so important that we were able to get these two wins," junior
Jenna Kuehn said. "I think the main reason is because it gives us confidence to go into those [Saint Mary's and Pacific] games because we know that we can get wins. It gives us confidence that we know what we can do; we know how to do all the right things to win."
Kuehn and company were doing all the right things Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs hit a season-high .365, connecting for 50 kills to go along with 47 assists, 36 digs and 8.0 blocks. Kuehn led the Zags with a season-high 13 kills with 16 assists for her seventh double-double of the season. While
Sarah Penner added 11 kills and
Peighton De Von finished with five kills and a career-high tying seven blocks.
"I think the most important thing that we did today was passing, both on serve receive and on defense," Kuehn said. "That was crucial for getting good sets and good kills. I have to give the credit to my passers and my setter Faith [Smith]. She put up amazing balls that let me do anything. But overall, just because our passing was so consistent, it let our offense be diverse."
Gonzaga (6-11, 3-3 WCC) was nearly unstoppable in the first set, hitting .482 for 18 kills. Penner led the Bulldogs with six kills hitting a deadly .625 while Kuehn,
Kennedy Croft and
Kaylie Loewen each had three kills apiece. San Francisco (8-9, 1-5 WCC) struggled to keep pace with the Zags, and GU cruised to the 25-17 win.
In the second set, the Bulldogs claimed the early 2-0 advantage, but a 6-1 swing in favor of the Dons gave San Francisco the 6-3 lead. Gonzaga battled back to tie the set 8-all, and this back-and-forth play lasted the rest of the set as there were 13 ties and 10 lead changes. A huge kill from Kuehn on San Francisco's set point tied the it 24-all, and the Bulldogs rattled off two straight points to secure the 26-24 win.
Gonzaga sealed the sweep in the third set, capitalizing on San Francisco's offensive struggles. The Dons hit -.034 for the set, thanks in part to 5.0 Zag blocks, and Gonzaga connected for 11 kills of 24 swings hitting at a .208 clip. A late 4-0 Gonzaga run gave the Bulldogs some breathing room (20-16), and Gonzaga finished on a 5-2 run for the 25-18 win and 3-0 sweep.
San Francisco was led by Emily Zinger with 12 kills hitting .321 while Erin Anthony added 28 assists.
Gonzaga hits the road next week for a pair of WCC matches, beginning at Saint Mary's on Oct. 11 at 7 p.m.
