SPOKANE, Wash. – The Gonzaga volleyball team battled until the end in a Friday afternoon matchup against Santa Clara inside the Martin Centre before falling in five (25-19, 17-25, 25-20, 21-25, 15-12).
Gonzaga (3-10, 3-10 WCC) had four players finish the match in double-digit kills.
Chapin Gray led the squad with 15 kills, followed
Katelyn Oppio and
Zoe Thiros with 13 apiece.
Sarah Penner added a double-double with 11 kills and 17 digs. Thiros also recorded a double-double on the day adding 13 digs to her stat line. The Bulldogs were led by sophomore setter
Tia Andaya with 51 assists.
As a squad, GU finished with 59 kills on 143 attempts with 26 errors to hit .231 for the match. The Bulldogs finished the five sets with 57 assists, 63 digs, and seven aces. Santa Clara (3-4, 3-4 WCC) finished with 63 kills hitting .247 for the match with 52 assists, 50 digs, and 10 aces.
The Zags hit the ground running behind a pair of kills from Thiros and an ace from Penner to give the Bulldogs an early 4-0 lead. An ace followed by a kill from Penner kept the momentum for the Zags, extending GU's lead to 15-11. But an ace from Santa Clara's Michelle Shaffer tied it up at 16. Penner responded, connecting on four more kills to lift Gonzaga to the 25-19 first-set win.
In the second set, it was back and forth between the Broncos and the Bulldogs with six ties in the opening plays of the match. The Broncos pulled ahead behind a serving run by Gretchen Reinhart, putting them up 11-7. With a set of attacking errors from Santa Clara and a service ace from
Gretchen Rudel, the Zags were able to narrow the score to 10-11. From there, SCU never surrendered the lead, cruising to the 25-17 win.
The Zags dominated at the net in the third set, recording six of their 10 total block assists in the third. Oppio got things going early for GU with a serving run that included a service ace and a kill from
Juliette Russell, putting the Zags up 6-3. Russell, Oppio, and Gray all recorded three kills for GU in the set, which saw the Zags lead the entire way. Oppio got the match point for the Zags, handing them the 25-20 win.
Julia Talarico's consistent serving helped the Zags to an early lead over the Broncos in the fourth. However, after a set of errors by Thiros, Santa Clara took a 6-5 lead. SCU continued its run behind stellar serving from Kat Georgiais and back-to-back kills from Michelle Shaffer, extending its lead to as many as six (20-14). Back-to-back Penner kills cut the lead to four (20-16), but the Zags were unable to close the gap, dropping the fourth 25-21.
In the fifth, Gonzaga took the early lead with two kills from Gray, an ace from Oppio and a kill from Russell, combining for the early 5-2 advantage. The Zags held the lead until late in the set when a kill from SCU's Sophia Tulino tied the set at 11-all. A nearly flawless last four points for the Broncos gave them the set win at 15-12, delivering the five-set loss to the Bulldogs.
Santa Clara was led by Julia Sangiacomo with 21 kills with eight errors hitting .245 on the afternoon. Shaffer led the Broncos in assists with 32.
Gonzaga returns to play Saturday, March 13 in its final home contest of the season, facing Santa Clara at 11:30 a.m. inside the Martin Centre. All six of Gonzaga's seniors will be honored pre-match, as they will be playing the final match of their careers inside the Martin Centre. Up-to-date match time information is available on GoZags.com.
