SPOKANE, Wash. – The Gonzaga volleyball team nearly upset No. 18 San Diego Saturday afternoon, battling to push five sets before falling 25-21, 25-17, 25-19, 20-25, 15-10 inside the Martin Centre.
 
Gonzaga (2-6, 2-6 WCC) was led by sophomore setter Tia Andaya with 43 assists and 11 digs for her fourth double-double of the season (assists, digs). She added five kills in 10 attempts with one error to lead the Bulldogs in attack percentage with a .400. Three Zags added double-figure kills as both Chapin Gray and Kennedy Croft led the Bulldogs with 14 kills each while Alyssa Hughes was close behind, rounding out the match with 13 kills. In addition to Andaya, four other Zags had double-figure digs led by a career-high 29 digs from senior Gretchen Rudel. Sarah Penner had 27 digs, while Julia Talarico had 17 in five sets. Croft rounded out the double-figure digs to complete her fourth double-double this season.
 
As a squad, GU finished with 60 kills with 24 errors to hit .217 for the match. The Bulldogs finished the match with 51 assists, 89 digs, and seven aces. San Diego (8-0, 8-0 WCC) finished with 65 swings hitting .283 for the match with 59 assists, 82 digs, and seven aces.
 
"We had to slow down their outside hitters—and we did a great job with that—and we had to score offensively," Head Coach Diane Nelson said. "We passed well, which kept us in our offense, and we worked our tails off in transition so I have to give it to the hitters for what they're doing, but definitely to our serve receive line as well. Definitely."
 
In the opening set, it was back and forth between the Bulldogs and the Toreros until Andaya went for a run, coupled with a kill each from Croft, Penner, and Hughes late in the set to put GU ahead 18-13. The Zags were able to keep their lead, finishing 25-21.
 
The Zags were errorless in serving the second set. Penner chalked up two aces within the set, and Talarico contributed one. USD got off to an early lead that the Bulldogs were never able to climb back from. The Toreros showed up with the swings in this set with 16 kills hitting .378 in the set. The Toreros topped the Bulldogs 17-25 in the second set to tie the match 1-1.
 
"We had to improve our coverage this game," Croft said. "As a hitter, you want to go up with full confidence that if you do get blocked, your defense is right behind you. I thought that was really good tonight. All of our hitters could go up with confidence that someone was going to be behind us to cover us."
 
The third set was back and forth like the first, with GU pulling ahead with a kill from Andaya, putting them up 10-7. Gray was able to keep the lead for the Zags by delivering a kill to get the ball back and put them up 11-9. From there, the Toreros turned up the heat, edging Gonzaga 19-25 behind USD's Thana Fayad's six kills.
 
The Bulldogs only let USD lead once in the fourth when the Toreros received the first point of the set. From there, it was all Zags behind their 14 kills on 32 swings with just four errors hitting .312. Hughes had the only solo block of the match for the Bulldog, which came in the fourth set. Croft led the Zags in the fourth with four kills, one ace, and three digs. It was only right that the Bulldogs finished the set 25-20 following a massive kill by Croft.
 
In the fifth and final set, the Zags were off to an early lead that was matched by a kill from USD's Grace Frohling tying it up at 4-4. The Toreros pulled ahead and GU struggled to overcome the deficit. The Toreros finished the set bringing in 12 kills on 21 swings hitting a match-high .524, ending the match at 15-10 for the 3-2 match loss for the Zags.
 
San Diego was led by Fayad with 23 kills and 34 digs, while Laura Madill brought in 41 assists for the Toreros.
Gonzaga returns to play on Monday, Feb. 22 against visiting Loyola Marymount at 12 p.m. inside the Martin Centre. Up-to-date match information is available on GoZags.com.