SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga volleyball's 2021 conference schedule has been finalized, the West Coast Conference announced Tuesday — and the Bulldogs are set for a return to fall play against nationally-tested West Coast opponents.
 
BYU, Pepperdine and San Diego all made it to the 2021 NCAA tournament and finished last season ranked in the AVCA top 25 poll, and there's been little momentum lost heading into a year where expectations are at an all-time high for the league. In tournament play, BYU made it as far as the Sweet 16, and both Pepperdine and San Diego advanced to the Second Round.
 
"The WCC just gets tougher each year," said GU coach Diane Nelson, who has won at least 10 games in every full-length season since taking over in 2016 and could become the first-ever Bulldogs coach to do so five years in a row this fall. "I'm looking forward to the talent and experience we have establishing ourselves amongst a really solid group of top teams."
 
This fall, conference play will be contested over a nine-week double round robin schedule, with the majority of match days falling on Wednesdays and Saturdays and segmented by week for road or home play. All conference matches will be broadcast live via the WCC Network, BYUtv and Regional Sports Networks.
 
The Zags will open conference play on the road with matchups against Portland and LMU on Sept. 25 and 28. Saint Mary's and Pacific come to Spokane on Sept. 30 and Oct. 2 before another challenging road stretch with San Diego (Oct. 7) and BYU (Oct. 9) back to back. A two-week homestand in October will see the Zags play host to San Francisco and Santa Clara on the 14th and the 16th and Pepperdine and LMU on the 21st and 23rd.
 
GU will close the month on the road for rematches with Saint Mary's and Pacific on the 28th and 30th before two more rematches the following week, this time at home against BYU (Nov. 4) and USD (Nov. 6). Another road trip to California will include matchups with Santa Clara on Nov. 11th and San Francisco on the 13th, followed up by a home date with Portland on the 20th after a week off. The Zags' conference finale will take place on the road against Pepperdine on the 23rd.
 
Gonzaga finished 7-11 in a condensed spring season delayed by the COVID pandemic last fall, and return nine players along with seven newcomers. Among those returners are junior middle blocker Alyssa Hughes and junior outside hitter Kennedy Croft, who both earned All-WCC nods after stellar seasons in the spring.
 
Hughes led the second-best blocking program in the WCC at the net with team highs in total blocks (72.0), solo blocks (9) and block assists (63). She led the conference in total blocks on the season (72), and ranked third in the conference in blocks per set (1.07) and solo blocks with nine. Hughes also led the squad and ranked fourth in the conference in hitting percentage at .328, connecting for 134 kills off 287 attempts with just 40 errors on the year.
 
A contributor since her freshman year, Croft ranked fourth on the squad in kills (128) and third in digs per set (2.84) while ranking second in points per set at 2.94 despite an extended absence due to injury. The junior from Tumwater, Wash., finished with double-digit kills nine times on the season in the spring.
 
Gonzaga Volleyball 2021 WCC Schedule

Date	Opponent	Time	Location
Sept. 25	* Portland	12 P.M.	Portland, Ore.
Sept. 28	* Loyola Marymount	7 P.M.	Los Angeles, Calif.
Sept. 30	* Saint Mary's	6 P.M.	Spokane, Wash.
Oct. 2	* Pacific	12 P.M.	Spokane, Wash.
Oct. 7	* San Diego	7 P.M.	San Diego, Calif.
Oct. 9	* BYU	12 P.M.	Provo, Utah
Oct. 14	* San Francisco	6 P.M.	Spokane, Wash.
Oct. 16	* Santa Clara	12 P.M.	Spokane, Wash.
Oct. 21	* Pepperdine	6 P.M.	Spokane, Wash.
Oct. 23	* Loyola Marymount	12 P.M.	Spokane, Wash.
Oct. 28	* Pacific	7 P.M.	Stockton, Calif.
Oct. 30	* Saint Mary's	1 P.M.	Moraga, Calif.
Nov. 4	* BYU	6 P.M.	Spokane, Wash.
Nov. 6	* San Diego	12 P.M.	Spokane, Wash.
Nov. 11	* Santa Clara	6 P.M.	Santa Clara, Calif.
Nov. 13	* San Francisco	12 P.M.	San Francisco, Calif.
Nov. 20	* Portland	12 P.M.	Spokane, Wash.
Nov. 23	* Pepperdine	7 P.M.	Malibu, Calif.

* West Coast Conference game
- All times are Pacific Time Zone