SPOKANE, Wash. – The Gonzaga volleyball team was swept by visiting San Diego Friday evening, losing 25-19, 25-17, 25-17 inside the Martin Centre in its first of two matches against the Toreros.
Gonzaga (2-5, 2-5 WCC) was led by sophomore setter
Tia Andaya with 19 assists on the evening to go along with four kills off five swings with no errors to hit .800. Andaya also added a team-high tying nine digs. Both
Kennedy Croft and
Sarah Penner added six kills to lead the Zags.
As a squad, GU finish with 28 kills off 95 swings with 16 errors to hit .126 for the match. The Bulldogs finished with 26 assists, 35 digs and six service aces. San Diego (7-0, 7-0 WCC) finished with 47 kills hitting .360 for the match with 41 assists, six aces, 46 digs and 11.0 blocks.
In the opening set, Gonzaga jumped out to an early 3-1 lead behind kills from Penner and
Chapin Gray, but a GU service error coupled with a kill from USD's Thana Fayad tied the set 4-4. That kills sparked a five unanswered Torero points to put GU behind 9-4. The Zags were unable to close the gap, making way for the 25-19 first set USD win.
Gonzaga was strong at the net in the second set, registering all of its blocks in the set while limiting USD to .289 hitting. The set was close early, featuring five tied scores and two lead changes, a midway through the set the score was tied 10-all. USD would outscore the Zags 9-3 over the next few plays, capitalizing on nearly perfect hitting from its outsides. A sneak attack from Andaya ended the run, and an attacking error on the ensuing USD possession brought GU within four, 19-15. Yet three straight GU errors—a service error, ball handling error and receiving error—put the Toreros in front 22-15 and they cruised to the 25-17 win.
In the third and final set, the Zags struggled to stop USD's attack as the Toreros connected for 19 kills off 40 swings with four errors to hit .375 for the set. San Diego jumped out to the early lead and Gonzaga was never able to close the gap, losing the third set 25-17 with a 3-0 match loss.
"This is a tough conference; San Diego is a program that runs things really fast," Head Coach
Diane Nelson said. "We have another great shot at them tomorrow. I'm really proud of
Katelyn Oppio for stepping out and playing big for us tonight. We need to get back to work."
San Diego was led by Roxie Wiblin and Fayad, each with 14 kills, while Laura Madill added a match-high 32 assists. Wiblin led the squad in digs with 12.
Gonzaga returns to play Saturday, Feb. 20 against San Diego at 1 p.m. inside the Martin Centre. Up-to-date match information is available on GoZags.com.
