SPOKANE, Wash. – The San Francisco volleyball team battled to five at Gonzaga but fell just short in the final set to the Bulldogs Saturday at the Martin Centre.
Similar to the first meeting of the season, the evenly-matched squads battled to the final point of the fifth set. Two nights after falling in five at Portland, USF again went the distance against the Bulldogs to drop to 12-14 (5-9 West Coast Conference), while Gonzaga improves to 15-9 (6-7 WCC).
Playing without their leading scorer for the second straight match, the Dons were paced by 15 kills, 12 digs and five blocks by senior
Valentina Zaloznik. Senior
Anja Segota also picked up a double-double on the day as she finished with 12 kills and 11 digs. Two freshman,
Jessica Gaffney and
Oluoma Okaro, made solid offensive contributions for USF as the duoe each finished hitting .304 and combined for 22 kills and eight total blocks.
The Dons opened the afternoon with an ace by
Kiara McKibben to set the tone for the first set. With the Dons and Bulldogs locked in a 14-14 tie, Gaffney's kill off the assist from McKibben gave USF back the lead which they would not relinquish. Gonzaga kept it close through the remainder of the frame and trailed 22-21 after an attack by Savannah Blinn forced USF to take a timeout. The Dons went on to score the next three points to take the 25-21 win into the second.
Another tight set ensued where there were 11 tie scores. Segota's ball off the assist from Zaloznik put the score at 15-15, but Gonzaga rolled off the next four points, and closed on a 10-5 run to take the frame and head into halftime with the match score knotted.
In the third, USF again raced out to the quick lead with McKibben on the serve. The Dons built a 4-0 lead and grew the advantage to 11-4 on a point by Gaffney. The Dons took the wire-to-wire set 25-15 to edge out to the 2-1 overall lead.
The see-saw match continued in the fourth, where the Bulldogs used a 10-2 run to gain the momentum in the frame and stretch out to a 12-8 lead as Nikki Leonard manned the service line. The Dons got an ace by libero
Kim Gutierrez to make it 19-16 in favor of the home team, but the Bulldogs were able to close it out with a 25-19 set win.
The decisive fifth set started with Gonzaga building an early advantage, but Okaro's kill put USF ahead 7-6 at the midway point. After Paige Folger and Leonard combined for the block to tie the score at 9-all, Gonzaga turned on the jets down the stretch. The Bulldogs closed with a 6-1 run to put the final score at 15-10 in favor of the home team.
As a team, Gonzaga outhit the Dons by a slim .205 to .196 margin, and finished with 15 more assists and 15 more digs than USF to take the victory. WCC kills leader Savannah Blinn led the match with 18 points for the Bulldogs.
USF has struggled on the road, and with one road contest remaining in the season now stand at 1-10 in away matches.
The Dons return to the friendly confines of War Memorial Gym, where the Dons sport a 7-2 mark, to face Pepperdine Thursday at 7 p.m.
