MORAGA, Calif. — Gonzaga Volleyball took the first and fourth sets in its rematch with Saint Mary's College on the road at UCU Pavilion Thursday night, but ultimately fell in a back-and-forth five-set battle (25-23, 19-25, 18-25, 25-21, 11-15).

The loss was the Bulldogs' (6-21, 2-14) fourth five-set game of the season and their third in the last four games, dropping them to 2-2 in those games.

Zoe Thiros and Kennedy Croft led GU with 15 kills apiece, with Alyssa Hughes adding eight more on team-high .500 hitting and McKenna Marshall adding nine with just two errors. Four different Zags finished with multiple aces to round out an 11-ace effort, including three each from Croft and Vikoriya Ivanova and two from Hughes and Keau Kamake'eaina, who generated 43 of GU's 50 assists. Thiros finished with a double-double, picking up a team-high 23 digs to go with an ace, while Alisa Kim had the second-most digs (18) and assists (five) at the libero position.

The Action

The Zags took control late in set one after capitalizing on three SMC service errors over the final 14 points, tying things up three times before an ace from Hughes and ensuing SMC attack error gave them their largest lead of the set at 21-19. After the Gaels tied things up again with a 2-0 surge, another ace from Kamake'eaina followed by a kill from Ehler and another Gaels  service error put GU at match point before Thiros put it away with her fourth kill of the set. Marshall added four kills of her own on team-high .500 hitting, with six different Zags recording at least one kill and four different Zags getting an ace. GU finished the set with .352 hitting.

The Gaels jumped out to a 11-6 lead in set two on a 5-0 run that saw four consecutive GU errors, forcing the Zags into a timeout. GU came back with a 3-0 run of their own to keep things close, but an improved hitting effort (16 kills, .406 %) continued to widen the gap en route to the Gaels' first set win, 25-19. SMC kept rolling in the third, putting up 17 more kills on .349 hitting to go up 2-1 and threaten to close out the game in the next set.

But a dominant fourth provided the equalizer for GU and forced a decisive fifth, spurred by a massive 8-0 run that included three consecutive aces from Ivanova and put the Bulldogs in the driver's seat for the rest of the set, up 19-11. The Gaels responded by scoring eight of the next 10, but GU managed to hold on, with Croft picking up two more kills and Thiros adding another before an SMC attack error closed things out. GU finished the set with 15 kills — 12 of which came from Croft, Thiros and Hughes.

After a 6-3 start to the final set with kills from Hughes, Croft and Thiros, SMC headed into a timeout and came back with a 6-2 run of their own to take their first lead. A big swing from Ehler got the Zags within one at 12-11, but the Gaels closed out with three straight kills to seal the deal.

Up Next

The Zags' final road trip of the year continues with a date with Pacific on Saturday in Stockton, Calif. GU fell in four sets to the Tigers (14-13, 6-10) at home in their last meeting on Sep. 22. Live stats and streaming options will be available via GoZags.com. Follow @ZagVolleyball on IG and Twitter for updates and more.