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Women's Volleyball Comes Alive In Loss To Pepperdine
Oct. 8, 2009
SPOKANE, Wash. - It was as an exciting match as there has been this season at the Martin Centre. The Gonzaga University women's volleyball squad played Pepperdine University in front of an exuberant and rowdy crowd Thursday in its second West Coast Conference match of the season. The Bulldogs dropped a 3-0 decision to the Waves but the score doesn't reflex the tough matchup they gave Pepperdine. Gonzaga gave Pepperdine all it could handle in each set but fell 25-22, 25-23 and 28-26. The WCC loss was the first of the season for Gonzaga, who is now 1-1 in conference and 5-10 overall. Pepperdine improved to 2-1 in the WCC and 9-6 overall. Gonzaga had a balanced offensive attack throughout the match as six players finished with four or more kills. Junior setter/outside hitter Kelsey Bashaw led the way for the Bulldogs with eight kills, along with 14 assists, five digs and four blocks. Senior teammates Michelle Boevers and Layne Brosky both added seven kills for GU. The Zags finished the match hitting .223 with 36 total kills, 13 errors on 103 total attempts. Bashaw teamed up with sophomore Denise Van de Mortel to pass out 34 assists. Despite falling by three points in the opening set, Gonzaga was on point offensively. Gonzaga hit a match-high .429, with 15 kills, four errors on 28 attempts. The Waves only hit .344 and had one less kill than the Bulldogs. The difference in the set was service aces by Pepperdine as it finished with five. Gonzaga and Pepperdine continued to play evenly in set two as there were eight ties and four lead changes. The Bulldogs had to string together a five-point run late in the set to turn a four point deficit into a one point lead at 23-22. With the crowd behind them, the Zags forced two Pepperdine service errors and two attack errors to gain the one-point edge. Unfortunately, the Waves came up huge above the net blocking the Zags next two kill attempts to claim the tight two-point victory.
Gonzaga continued to fight in set three, battling Pepperdine for every point. Each time the Waves thought they had some breathing room the Bulldogs would rattle them with a run to change the set. Down six at 16-10, GU scratched its way back, tying the set at 20 a piece with a 10-4 run that was capped off on a monster kill by senior Emily Johnson. The set then tied at 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26. Gonzaga starved off a match point with Pepperdine leading 24-23 with a block assist by junior Caitlin Cozad and Brosky and took the lead at 25-24 on another kill by Johnson. Gonzaga had a chance to win the set but a ball handling error by Van de Mortel tied the set once again, this time at 25. The Zags again took the one-point lead on a kill by Bashaw but the Waves followed with a kill by Kim Hill. The momentum finally shifted to Pepperdine when Stevi Robinson served up her third ace of the night to break the 26 tie. After a long rally, Gonzaga's Allyson Powell mishit the ball which gave Pepperdine the victory. Pepperdine was led by Rachel Grochmal with a match-high 19 kills. Hill added 11 kills and Lilla Frederick contributed 10. Gonzaga returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 10 when it hosts WCC foe Loyola Marymount University at the Martin Centre. Match time is set for 1 p.m. |
