MALIBU, Calif. — Gonzaga volleyball battled through each set in its first matchup with a ranked opponent this season at No. 20 Pepperdine at Firestone Fieldhouse Tuesday night, ultimately falling despite storming back from an 8-0 deficit in the second and leading for much of the third.
Kennedy Croft led the Bulldogs (3-10, 0-3 WCC) with 10 kills — five of which came in the third set — and true freshman middle Autumn Larson added seven more in her first multi-set appearance as a Zag. McKenna Marshall and Kelsie White combined for seven more, with White hitting a team-high .286 in the process.
Croft also connected on two of GU's six service aces, with four other Zags adding one each. Keau Kamake'eaina generated 20 of the Zags' 22 assists, with Alisa Kim producing a team-high seven digs.
GU and Pepperdine went back and forth in the first set, with neither scoring two in a row until a block on Thiros made it 7-5 Waves. But GU kept it tight early, taking its first lead of the game on a service ace from Kelsie White that made it 9-8 and going up two on an attack error. The Waves responded with a 3-0 run of their own and another 4-0 run after GU tied it up to take a commanding lead and force a timeout. A second service ace — this time from Thiros — got GU three at 16-13, but another 4-0 surge from the Waves forced another timeout with the Bulldogs down 20-13. Pepperdine closed out strong from there, keeping GU from cutting into the deficit with two more kills and benefiting from two Zags service errors in the process for a 25-18 set win.
The Waves were red-hot to start set two, putting up seven unanswered points from the get-go — five of which were kills — but the Bulldogs managed to get back into it late.
Coming out of a timeout, Kamake'eaina and Croft connected on kills to get the Zags on the board, and GU started to work its way back. The Bulldogs managed to cut the lead to six, and after trading 3-0 runs capped off by an ace from Kim, forced the Waves into their first timeout. But they weren't done yet, with a pair of kills from Autumn Larson and a pair of attack errors generating GU's longest run of the game so far to get within three and suddenly make the set a closer affair. Another attack error and the Zags' fourth ace of the night from Batenhorst made it 19-21, but a kill and a block from Pepperdine pushed the deficit back to four heading into the final stretch and forced another timeout, after which the Waves scored two of the next three to take their second set.
The Bulldogs put together another competitive showing in a decisive set three, leading 11-5 after a pair of 4-0 runs spurred largely by Croft. The graduate senior outside produced three consecutive kills and a pair of back-to-back aces to put GU ahead, and the Zags wouldn't relinquish the lead until the Waves made a late stand. Pepperdine scored four of the final five points of the set to keep the game from going to four, closing the sweep with a service ace.
The Zags return home to play host to San Diego on Thursday at 6 p.m.Live stats and streaming options will be available via GoZags.com. Follow @ZagVolleyball on IG and Twitter for updates and more.
