PORTLAND, Ore. – The Gonzaga volleyball team closed the 2018 season on a high note, defeating Portland in five sets (25-23, 19-25, 23-25, 30-28, 15-11) Tuesday evening at the Chiles Center.
 
"These girls didn't want it to end," head volleyball coach Diane Nelson said. "They played tonight with so much heart. Our serving was on, and we just played hard."
 
Gonzaga (11-18, 8-10 WCC) was led by Kaylie Loewen with a season-high 17 kills hitting .556 while Chapin Gray and Sarah Penner added 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Jenna Kuehn added a double-double with 25 assists and 10 digs, while Faith Smith added 28 assists and five digs. Smith finished her career with 2,337 assists and 1,004, becoming just the third player in program history to have at least 2,000 assists and 1,000 digs.
 
The Bulldogs opened the match hitting .389 for 16 kills to Portland's (18-12, 6-12 WCC) 15 kills hitting .179. Gonzaga broke a 17-all tie following a Pilot hitting error and outscored Portland 8-6 to close the set to claim the 25-23 set win. In the second set, the momentum swung in favor of the Pilots as Portland recorded 16 kills hitting .387, limiting the Zags to 11 kills hitting .139. The Pilots broke a 16-all tie with a kills from Izzy Guzik and finished on a 9-3 run to claim the 25-19 second set win.
 
After splitting the third and fourth sets with Portland claiming a 25-23 third set win and Gonzaga earning a hard-fought 30-28 fourth set win, the match entered the fifth set. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 5-1 lead and never relinquished their lead. Gonzaga registered five service aces in the final set and shut down the Pilots, forcing them to hit just .067 for five kills. Gonzaga controlled the Pilots and continued on for the 15-11 fifth set victory and 3-2 match win.
 
Portland was led by Guzik with a match-high 20 kills while Cali Thompson added a match-high 54 assists.
 
With tonight's win, Gonzaga's season comes to a close with an 11-18 overall record and an 8-10 mark in WCC conference play. The Zags will graduate six seniors from the 2018 season (Marit Thorkildsen, Faith Smith, Perry Ramsey, Peighton De Von, Tiyana Hallums and Kaylie Loewen) while 12 Bulldogs will return for the 2019 season.