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Volleyball Drops WCC Home Opener To Saint Mary's
Oct. 9, 2008
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University women's volleyball opened the home portion of its West Coast Conference slate with a 3-0 setback to Saint Mary's College Thursday evening. The Gaels, who improved to 12-4 overall and 2-1 in the WCC, swept the match 25-19, 26-24, 25-15. With the loss, the Bulldogs dropped their overall record to 6-12 and are now 0-3 in conference. "We have the ability to play well, and we showed that at times tonight, but ultimately we have to be more consistent," said head coach Kip Yoshimura. "Set two was a turning point for us. We led 24-22 but we let them rattle us and score four-straight points to take the set. We will regroup though and prepare for our match against Santa Clara on Saturday." Gonzaga, who was held to 35 kills in the match, was led by junior outside hitter Michelle Boevers and junior right side hitter Layne Brosky with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Freshman Denise Van de Mortel dished out 30 assists for the Zags as GU connected for a .126 hitting clip. Saint Mary's closed out the match with five more kills than Gonzaga at 40, but only had 15 errors on 96 total attempts for a respectable .260 attacking percentage. Shannon Lowell and Taylor Groess led the way for the Gaels. Lowell finished with 10 kills, five blocks and two digs, while Groess added nine kills, two digs and one block. The Gaels held the 9.5-8.0 edge in blocks, while both teams finished the match with 37 digs. Senior libero Paige Dillingham finished with a match-tying high nine digs and both Boevers and senior Elaina Renius had three blocks for GU in the loss.
Gonzaga returns to action this Saturday, Oct. 11 when its hosts WCC opponent Santa Clara University, ranked 20th in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll, at the Martin Center. Match time is set for 12:30 p.m. |
