SAN FRANCISCO – The Gonzaga volleyball team handled San Francisco Thursday evening, defeating the Dons in four sets at War Memorial Gym (25-16, 25-19, 22-25, 25-16). The Bulldogs connected for 55 kills hitting at a .306 clip to remain undefeated against USF this season.
Gonzaga (7-15, 4-8 WCC) was led by
Kennedy Croft with 14 kills hitting .500 to go along with 11 digs for her second double-double of the season.
Faith Smith also recorded a double-double for the Zags with a match-high 26 assists and 10 digs.
Tiyana Hallums collected a match-high 25 digs while
Sarah Penner and
Perry Ramsey rounded out the team effort with 13 kills each.
"The team was dialed in tonight and was disciplined from start to finish," head volleyball coach
Diane Nelson said. "San Francisco is a solid team, and we executed our game plan very well."
In the first set, San Francisco (8-16, 1-12 WCC) led early following three-straight kills from Marjolijn Oskam, but the Zags quickly closed the gap with kills from Penner and Ramsey, tying the set 4-all. Midway through, the set was tied 10-all, but six unanswered Bulldog points fueled by two-straight kills from Penner put Gonzaga up 16-10. Gonzaga maintained a sizeable lead the remainder of the set and cruised to the 25-16 opening set win.
In the second set, Croft ignited for six of her 14 kills, hitting .545 off 11 swings. The freshman also added six digs in the second set to help propel Gonzaga to the 25-19 second set win. As a squad, the Zags hit .302 in the second set for 16 total kills.
San Francisco once again took an early lead in the third (3-1), but Gonzaga was able to quickly close the gap, tying the set 4-all. The set was close throughout as neither team led by more than four points and hit an identical .333. Serve-receive turned out to be the difference, especially late in the set, as the Zags suffered four service errors and three receiving errors. With the third tied 22-all, Gonzaga committed a service error and a serve-receive error to catapult the Dons to the 25-22 win.
Gonzaga rebounded soundly, forcing USF to hit just .053 in the fourth while collecting 17 digs and 4.0 blocks. The Bulldogs raced out to a 10-3 lead and never looked back, cruising to the 25-16 fourth set win for the 3-1 match win.
San Francisco was led by Emily Zinger with 12 kills while Erin Anthony added 21 assists.
Gonzaga is back in action Saturday, Nov. 3 at Santa Clara at 1 p.m.
