LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Gonzaga volleyball brought the fight to Loyola Marymount in the second set on Saturday, but the Lions would recover to take the third and fourth sets to claim the 3-1 win inside Gersten Pavilion. The Zags battled to a 25-21 win in the second, but Paige Flickinger's 15 kills would allow LMU to keep their lead atop the West Coast Conference standings with a 25-12, 21-25, 25-19, 25-17 victory.
 
With the win, Loyola Marymount (22-5, 14-2 WCC) remains one game ahead of Pepperdine at the top of the WCC standings. With just two conference matches left, the Lions are in position to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, holding the tiebreaker with two wins over the Waves this season.
 
LMU had to go through Gonzaga (1-25, 0-16 WCC) first on Saturday, as the Bulldogs were not going to go quietly on the Lions' senior day. After falling 25-12 in the opening set, GU answered with a 25-21 win to knot the score at one apiece. Autumn Larson and Maggie Rickert fueled the Zags in frame two. Larson picked up three kills and two service aces, while Rickert swung four kills to lead all hitters. What began as a dogfight continued all the way to a 19-19 tie before Gonzaga picked up two points in a row. The Bulldogs were able to put the Lions away by closing out on a 3-0 run heading into the first break.
 
Rickert added five more kills in the third set and two in the fourth, but LMU's Flickinger would match Rickert while the Lions picked up 25-19 and 25-17 wins. The Zags battled early on in each of the final two sets, but Loyola Marymount would pull away in both.
 
In total, Larson notched four service aces on the afternoon to go with her eight kills. Rickert totaled the second-highest number of kills with 13, adding eight digs on defense. For Loyola Marymount, Flickinger notched a double-double with 15 kills and ten digs.
 
UP NEXT
The Zags will begin their final week of the 2024 regular season on Wednesday at Santa Clara before welcoming San Francisco for their senior day match on Nov. 30 inside the Martin Centre. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available at www.gozags.com.