SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga volleyball shot out the gates against Seattle in its home opener as host of the GU Invitational, dropping Seattle U in straight sets (25-13, 25-19) in front of 748 in the Bulldogs' first game at the Martin Centre with fans since 2019.

McKenna Marshall, Cara McKenzie and Kennedy Croft paced the Bulldogs (2-2) yet again against the Redhawks (1-5). Marshall and Croft both connected on a team-high seven kills, while McKenzie added six to go with two solo blocks and two block assists. Freshman middle blocker Juliette Russell connected on four kills of her own and posted a game-high four blocks, and Brynn Chandler led GU in assists for the fourth consecutive game with 23, adding three service aces and three kills.

"It's really fun to continue watching our team grow together," said GU head coach Diane Nelson. "We served tough in front of an electric home crowd."

In the first, the Zags picked up five blocks and four service aces while capitalizing off six Redhawks attacking errors to rip off four runs of three or more unanswered scores en route to a 12-point set win. Marshall, McKenzie and freshman Jody Smith all picked up two kills apiece, with Marshall ending the set on a Dani Batenhorst-assisted kill for the Zags' biggest lead of the night, 25-13.

Seattle tightened up in the second set, and so did the score. GU took a 6-9 lead on a service error, but the Redhawks scored four straight to evaporate the advantage. The Bulldogs responded with four straight of their own — including two kills from sophomore Zoe Thiros — to go up 15-12 after another kill from McKenzie and a service error that forced Seattle into a timeout. 

The Bulldogs never trailed again after the timeout, building the lead to 22-15 after three consecutive kills from Marshall, Chandler and Russell. That seven-point cushion held through set point, when McKenzie sealed a 2-0 set advantage for the Zags with her fifth kill of the night.

Seven ties and nine lead changes made the decisive third set the closest, with neither team leading by more than two until the Zags surged to a 4-0 run late to make it 22-19, fueled by consecutive service aces from sophomore Viktoriya Ivanova. Seattle U picked up back-to-back kills to get back within one, but the Zags scored three straight to close the game, punctuated by a service ace from Alisa Kim at match point.

The Zags return to action for day two of the GU Invitational Saturday against Air Force (at 6 p.m. Check GoZags for live video, up-to-date game time information and live stats. Tickets are available here.