STOCKTON, Calif. — Despite holding leads late in each of the final two sets, Gonzaga volleyball (7-15, 3-8 WCC) could not overcome a hyperproductive offensive outing from Pacific (9-13, 6-5), falling in straight sets (25-19, 25-22, 25-23) in West Coast Conference action Thursday night at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
Kennedy Croft and Cara McKenzie finished with eight kills each and McKenna Marshall added seven of her own to pace the Bulldogs on offense, with Keau Kamake'eaina dishing 25 of GU's 29 assists.
GU served up four aces to Pacific's one, with Alisa Kim connecting on two and Viktoriya Ivanova and Marshall adding two more. Ivanova led the Zags in digs with 10, ahead of five Zags who recorded at least two. The Bulldogs also outblocked Pacific 7-1, with six of them assist from McKenzie (three), Croft (two) and Kamake'eaina (one).
The Tigers' 3-0 start in the first grew to a six-point lead after a subsequent 3-0 run made it 10-4, and they never relinquished the advantage while notching a game-high 70% from sideout and .514 hitting average en route to a 25-19 set win. GU recorded a game-high 12 kills with five different players getting more than one and outscored Pacific 6-4 over the final ten points of the set, but UOP closed it out with a kill from Alexa Edwards to stop any further advances for a 1-0 advantage.
The Bulldogs found some rhythm in the second — thanks largely to five kills and a .714 hitting average by McKenzie — but the Tigers' offense kept rolling to the tune of a .533 average. The lead changed three times and tied five times, with the Zags going ahead 9-6 after a 4-0 run punctuated by a kill from Kamake'eaina gave them their first lead of the game. Pacific responded with a run of its own to tie it up at 12-all, but another 4-0 run with back-to-back aces from Kim made it 16-12. The set was all tied up at 18 going into the final stretch, but a late push from the Tigers kept the Zags at a distance en route to a 25-22 win.
Both teams hit below .200 in the third set, with a 4-0 run early giving GU the space it needed to dictate the pace. Nonetheless, the score tied eight times and the lead changed five times as Pacific kept finding responses to Marshall, McKenzie and Croft, who all finished with three kills each. After a back-and forth set that saw both teams go up by as much as three, another 4-0 run with two kills from McKenzie and another from Croft made it 21-16 heading into the final stretch, but Pacific scored nine of the next 11 points to steal the set and complete the sweep.
Up Next
The Zags' California road trip continues on Saturday with a 1 p.m. matchup with Saint Mary's (12-8, 6-5) at University Credit Union Pavilion in Moraga. GU defeated the Gaels 3-1 at the Martin Centre on Sep. 30. Check GoZags.com and follow @ZagVolleyball on Twitter and Instagram for up-to-date game time information, live coverage and more.
