SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga Volleyball fell to Nevada in four sets (14-25, 26-24, 17-25, 22-25) in its second game of the GU Invitational Friday evening at the Martin Centre, despite a versatile showing from McKenna Marshall that saw her lead the team in kills, aces, blocks and digs.
Marshall (8 kills), Zoe Thiros (7 kills), Alyssa Hughes (7 kills) and Kennedy Croft (5 kills) led the Zags on offense, with Marshall providing four service aces and Thiros adding two more. Marshall's all-around effort also included a team-high four block assists, tied with Kelsie White, and a team-high 18 digs to tie with Alisa Kim. Keau Kamake'eaina supplied 25 of GU's 30 assists a day after posting a career-high in that category.
The Wolfpack looked nearly unstoppable in the first set, scoring the first five points of the game and connecting on 15 kills en route to a 25-14 set win. But GU snapped back into focus in the second, holding the Wolfpack to just eight kills while posting 12 of their own and hitting for a game-high .200 average.
GU still had plenty left in the tank in the fourth, when a resurgent performance at the net gave the Bulldogs momentum after a third set loss put their backs against the wall. Buoyed by a 6-1 run to open and another 6-0 run that put them up 21-17, the Zags look poised to equalize yet again before Nevada's Kayla Afoa scored four of the last five points of the game to retake the advantage and keep the game from going to a fifth set.
The Zags face CSU-Northridge in their GU Invitational finale on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Martin Centre. Streaming and live stats options are available via GoZags.com. Follow @ZagVolleyball for updates and more.