SPOKANE, Wash. — Seeking its first season sweep over Gonzaga in seven years, the University of San Francisco volleyball team took an early 1-0 lead in Thursday evening's West Coast Conference match, but the Bulldogs came from behind – including a key third-set comeback – to split the season series with a 3-1 (19-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-22) victory at the Martin Centre.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• San Francisco (6-19, 2-12 WCC) overpowered Gonzaga (10-16, 4-10 WCC) in the first set. A 5-0 run early on that turned a 7-5 deficit into a 10-7 lead was all the momentum swing USF needed, never trailing again on its way to a 1-0 match lead. The Dons held Gonzaga to .111 hitting with 21 digs in the first set alone.
   
• Even though San Francisco hit 10% better in the second set, Gonzaga hit more than 300% better, attacking at a .424 clip with 18 kills to cruise to a match-evening, 25-17, victory in set two. The Dons only committed three errors in the second set, but a key 6-1 run turned a one-point score into a six-point, 14-8 advantage for the Bulldogs. They'd push it to as much as 20-12 with five more kills.
   
• Gonzaga carried momentum from its powerful second-set victory into the start of the third, taking an early 5-0 lead, but the Dons battled back. A 6-0 run in the middle of the set off the serve of Erin Fujitani erased a five-point deficit and gave the Dons their first lead at 18-17. Gonzaga responded right back with its own 6-0 run, going right back up, 23-18, thanks to four kills and two USF errors. San Francisco still wasn't done, as the set continued to swing back and forth, this time with four consecutive points from the Dons to make it 23-22. A final kill from Zoe Thiros sealed the set and gave Gonzaga a 2-1 match lead with a narrow 25-23 set victory.
   
• An early 8-1 stretch by Gonzaga in the fourth put them ahead for good at 12-7. A 6-1 USF run late closed what had been a seven-point gap and made it a two-point contest at 24-22, but the Bulldogs' Kennedy Croft notched her 11th kill of the match to finish things off and clinch the win for Gonzaga.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

• 2: San Francisco saw two players notch double-doubles Thursday. Kathya Garcia tied for the match lead with 17 kills and also had 12 digs. Ally Wada posted her sixth match this season with at least 40 assists (42) and collected 13 digs.
• 80: The Dons totaled 80 digs as a team, with four players tallying double-digit digs on defense. Libero Anna Dalla Vecchia led the way with 22. It was USF's third match this season with at least 80 digs.

COMING UP

• The Dons conclude their final road trip of the season at noon Saturday with a rematch versus Portland, who downed the Dons in five sets on Oct. 17. Fans can find all live coverage links on USFDons.com.