SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Gonzaga volleyball (8-19, 4-12) finished strong in its final weekend road game of the season against San Francisco (0-22, 0-14) Saturday, leaning on an offensive surge in the final two frames to secure a four-set win in USF's Sobrato Center.
Kennedy Croft led all players with 18 kills to pace GU's offense, with Zoe Thiros and McKenna Marshall adding eight apiece. Cara McKenzie and Juliette Russell came away with a game-high four blocks each while contributing six more kills apiece, and Russell's .455 hitting average was the highest of the game for any player with more than one attack.
Viktoriya Ivanova and Keau Kamale'eaina were the game's dig leaders, securing 16 and 15 respectively, while Kamake'eaina distributed 38 of the Zags' 44 total assists.GU also connected on a season-high eight service aces as a team in the victory, getting three from Kamake'eaina, two from Croft and one apiece from Ivanova, Alisa Kim and Dani Batenhorst.
USF got off to a competitive start in the first, building up a 16-11 lead despite a 2-0 deficit to stat the set and never rattling off more than two unanswered scores. The Dons looked poised to maintain the pressure through the rest of set one, but an ensuing 8-1 GU run that saw six kills from four different players put the Zags in the driver's seat through the rest of the set. USF began to recover from the run, getting within one after a GU attack error made it 22-21, but the Bulldogs closed out with three straight scores that included kills from Marshall and Thiros to take a one-set advantage.
Another close set in the second saw USF continue to put up a fight, tying the score 11 times with neither team leading by more than three — but this time, it was the Dons closing out with four straight points to secure a set win, 25-20. GU bounced back in the third, reaching game-highs in hitting average (.348) and kill percentage (.565) while building an early lead off a 9-2 start and maintaining it through the rest of the set.Â
That momentum continued into the fourth, with Kamake'eaina serving up two consecutive aces to start the set on a 3-0 GU tilt. Outscoring the Dons 10-5 over the next 15Â points, the Bulldogs reached their largest lead of the match after Croft's 17th kill made it 20-10. The Dons scored two straight in response, but another 5-0 run with a kill and an ace from Croft, a block from McKenzie and another kill from Batenhorst created GU's largest margin of victory in a single set so far this season while closing out the match win.
Up Next
GU is set for its final home game of the season next week, hosting Portland on Saturday for Senior Night. Check GoZags.com and follow @ZagVolleyball on Twitter and Instagram for up-to-date game time information, live coverage and more.
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