SPOKANE, Wash. – The Gonzaga volleyball team fell in five sets to visiting Saint Mary's (17-25, 25-16, 21-25, 25-12, 13-15) Monday afternoon inside the Martin Centre.
 
Gonzaga (2-4, 2-4 WCC) finished with four players with double-figure kills, led by a season-high 22 kills from senior outside hitter Sarah Penner. Penner added 16 digs for her third double-double of the year (kills, digs). Alyssa Hughes added a career-high 14 kills hitting .308 with five blocks, while Chapin Gray connected for 12 kills. Kennedy Croft rounded out the double-figure kills with 10 in addition to 11 digs for her third-straight double-double. Tia Andaya led the Zags with a match-high 58 assists to go along with 15 digs, while Julia Talarico finished with a match-high 23 digs.
 
As a team, Gonzaga finished with 68 kills hitting .274 with 84 digs, 64 assists and 9.0 team blocks. The Zags served up three service aces but struggled with 14 service errors. On the other side of the net, Saint Mary's (2-6, 2-6 WCC) finished with 44 kills hitting .139 to go along with 39 assists, 67 digs and 6.0 blocks. The Gaels served up nine service aces—the most by a Gonzaga opponent this season—while committing seven service errors.
 
"The ball moved quite a bit [in service], and we lost a bit of our rhythm for sure," Head Coach Diane Nelson said. "We know we can get ourselves out of that, but today we took a little longer than we should have. That's hard; it puts a lot of pressure on our out-of-system swinging and on our defense."
 
The Bulldogs kept things close in the first set and trailed by two midway through the set, 11-9. Yet a string of attacking errors coupled by three Bulldogs receiving errors put Saint Mary's in front 23-14. GU would save the set point two times by forcing back-to-back attacking errors on the Gaels, but a Zag service error ended the set in favor of Saint Mary's, 25-17.
 
The second set was an entirely different story as Gonzaga was nearly unstoppable at the net, hitting at a .467 clip for 16 kills—five of which came from a perfect hitting performance from freshman middle Juliette Russell—to offset six service errors. A kill from Russell broke a 6-6 tie, the fifth of the set, and sparked a 9-4 Bulldog run to give GU a 15-10 advantage midway through the set. SMC would twice cut the lead to four points, but the Zags prevailed, ending the set on 5-2 run to win 25-16.
 
Set three belonged to the Gaels as they opened with four unanswered points. Gonzaga trailed by as many as nine points in the set, but a 6-3 run late in the set cut SMC's advantage to five, 23-18. A kill from Elena Baka set the Gaels up for set point, yet Gonzaga saved the set for three-straight plays with a kill from Croft and back-to-back kills from Penner. Baka responded with a kill, her third of the set, to give the Gaels the 25-21 win.
 
Gonzaga opened the fourth with four unanswered points, setting the tone for the set as the Zags never trailed in the fourth. The Bulldogs' stellar defense at the net forced the Gaels to hit -.158, connecting for four kills with 10 hitting errors in the set. The Zags registered 4.0 of their total 9.0 blocks in the stanza, three of which came with assistance from Hughes. Gonzaga completely dominated Saint Mary's in the set, cruising to the 25-12 win to set the match up for a fifth set.
 
The fifth set was back-and-forth until a quick 5-2 run in favor of Saint Mary's put GU behind by three, 12-9. Despite five Bulldog kills in the late plays of the set, SMC held on for the 15-13 fifth set victory to claim the 3-2 match win.
 
Saint Mary's was led by Hawley Harrer and Chandler Cowell with 11 kills each, while Ella Sandt added a team-high 23 assists. Libero Abigail Matoso added a team-high 17 digs.
 
Gonzaga continues play at home as it hosts No. 18 San Diego Friday, Feb. 19 at 12 p.m. inside the Martin Centre. Visit GoZags.com for up-to-date match time information.