STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Gonzaga volleyball kicked off the 2021 slate with a five-set win (25-17, 25-13, 16-25, 19-25, 15-12) over Southeastern Louisiana in its StarkVegas Classic opener Friday morning at MSU's Newell-Grissom Building, posting double-digit kills in each set behind dominant debuts from a variety of transfers.

Junior transfer McKenna Marshall led the Bulldogs (1-0) with 19 kills in her first game in a GU uniform, and grad transfer Cara McKenzie matched redshirt freshmen Juliette Russell and Grace Ehler with nine to round out the Zags' attack. Junior Kennedy Croft finished with eight kills of her own, and sophomore transfer libero Viktoriya Ivanova finished with a game-high 23 digs. Grad transfer setter Brynn Chandler picked up 47 of GU's 53 assists.

As a squad, GU finished with 56 kills off 154 attempts with 21 errors for a .227 hitting average on the match, finishing with a game-high .346 in the second. In total, the Bulldogs finished with 57 digs and 13 aces. Southeastern (0-1) finished with 45 kills while hitting .205 for the match with 45 assists, 61 digs, and four aces.

Down 5-1 early in the first set, the Bulldogs tied it up at 9-9 and took a two-point lead after consecutive service aces from Alisa Kim -- a lead they wouldn't relinquish through the rest of the set behind 10 team kills and a game-high 13 digs while holding the Lions to a .000 hitting average.

GU took control early on in the second, jumping out to a 10-5 lead early on a kill from McKenzie and forcing the Lions into a timeout after scoring on two consecutive errors to extend the lead to 12-5. Southeastern never got within six again for the rest of the set, with GU scoring five straight -- four on serves from McKenzie -- to close the set with a lopsided 25-13 score. 

The Lions nearly mirrored the Zags' second set in the third, getting out to an early 10-5 lead of their own and closing strong with four straight points to hand GU their first set loss in spite of game-highs in kills (12) and assists (12) from the Bulldogs. The fourth was more of the same, with Southeastern surging ahead with a pair of 5-0 runs late to force a decisive fifth set.

In the final set, the score tied and the lead changed five times, but a kill from freshman Grace Ehler and a service ace from Marshall put the Zags within a point of a win at 14-11. Croft closed out the game with her ninth kill of the day on an assist from Chandler.

The Zags now face host Mississippi State at 2 p.m. in their final game of the day before a rematch with the Bulldogs Saturday at 8 a.m., with live streaming for both matchups available on WatchESPN via the SEC Network. Check GoZags.com for links to the live streams, up-to-date match time information and live stats.