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Women's Volleyball Hosts Seattle; Plays at Portland
Oct. 21, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
Match 23 THIS WEEK: The Gonzaga University women's volleyball team hosts Seattle University in its last non-conference match of the season on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs will then conclude the first half of West Coast Conference play with a match at the University of Portland on Saturday, Oct. 25 at 1 p.m. The Zags are looking to break a seven-match losing streak with their match against the Redhawks tomorrow and are looking for their first WCC victory of the season against the Pilots on Saturday. BULLDOGS PLAY TOUGH; FALL TWICE LAST WEEK: Gonzaga University women's volleyball continued its West Coast Conference schedule last week with back-to-back 3-1 losses to Pepperdine University and Loyola Marymount University. ON TAP IN THE COMING WEEKS: Gonzaga University volleyball begins the second half of West Coast Conference action after its matches this week against Seattle University and the University of Portland. The Bulldogs, who will play five of their final seven WCC matches at home, host the University of San Francisco Oct. 30 and the University of San Diego Nov. 1. ABOUT THE REDHAWKS: Seattle University, in its first year of its reclassification to NCAA Division I, currently holds a 9-14 overall record and a 3-7 record against opponents that Gonzaga University has also played against. Seattle is on a two-match winning streak after sweeping North Florida University and Savannah State University. The Redhawks are led by Cristin Richards and Kaytlyn Dill who are averaging 2.79 kills and 2.64 kills per set, respectively. Even though both schools are located in the state of Washington, this will be the first meeting between the two schools. ABOUT THE PILOTS: The University of Portland enters into its contest with Gonzaga University with a 5-16 overall record and a 0-6 mark in West Coast Conference action. The Pilots have lost six-straight and nine out of the last ten matches. UP did take Pepperdine University, ranked then-No. 16, to five sets in its last match, falling in the fifth set 15-11. Portland is led by Ashley Grayson who is averaging a team-best 3.20 kills per set, along with 1.61 digs per set. The Bulldogs lead the all-time series with the Pilots 30-15 and have won the last three matches. THREE DOUBLE-DOUBLES: Gonzaga University freshman setter Denise Van de Mortel has six double-doubles to her credit this season; third best in the West Coast Conference. Emily Day of Loyola Marymount University leads the WCC with 12 double-doubles and Megan York, of Saint Mary's College, is second with 11. Van de Mortel continues to pace the conference with 892 assists on the season. TWENTY-SIX: Senior libero Paige Dillingham broke her career dig record, well actually she shattered her career dig record against Boise State University, Sept. 5. Dillingham finished the 3-1 victory with 26 digs. Her previous best was 17 attained this season against both the University of Montana and North Dakota State University. Along with being a personal-high, Dillingham's 26 digs was also the highest individual dig amount in a single-match since 2004 when Jessica Herrera also had 26 against the University of Portland. Dillingham is averaging a team-best 3.62 digs per set; second best in the West Coast Conference. DOMINATING THE AIRWAVES: Senior middle blocker Elaina Renius had a career-high 12 blocks to lead the Bulldogs to a 3-1 victory over Boise State University, Sept. 5. Her 12 blocks, eight of which were block assists, were the most blocks by an individual Zag player since former Bulldog Briawna Mueller collected 12 against San Francisco in 2005. Renius was also just four blocks shy of breaking former Zag and current assistant coach Abby (Cullen) Bennett's school record of 15, set against Portland in 2002. LEADING THE WAY: Senior Elaina Renius continues to lead the West Coast Conference with 98.0 total blocks and is second in total kills with 295. She had a career-high 24 kills against Eastern Washington University. A DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Junior outside hitter Emily Johnson tallied her third career double-double, with 11 kills and 13 digs, in a 3-1 setback to Loyola Marymount University, Oct. 18. Her only other double-double of the season was an 11 kill, 11 dig performance against North Dakota State University, Aug. 20. Johnson's first career double-double came as a freshman when she had 13 kills and 11 digs against the University of Idaho. LEFTY HAS CAREER-HIGH NIGHT: Layne Brosky, a junior for the Gonzaga University volleyball squad, finished with a career-tying and match-high 17 kills in the Zags 3-1 setback to the University of San Francisco. The left handed hitter, whose previous best this season was 15 at Washington State University Sept. 10, tied a career-high mark in kills that she set the opening weekend of her freshman campaign, two seasons ago. She last had 17 kills against North Dakota State University Aug. 26, 2006; it was Brosky's third match in a Bulldog uniform. HEAD COACH Kip Yoshimura: Kip Yoshimura is in his seventh year as Gonzaga University's head coach. Yoshimura has compiled a 54-145 record during his tenure with the Bulldogs. A former assistant coach at Gonzaga during the 1992 season, Yoshimura has complied a 305-217 career record which includes nine seasons at Lewis-Clark State College where he guided the Warriors to nine-straight NAIA tournament appearances. A 1990 graduate of Long Beach State University, Yoshimura entered the coaching ranks as a student-assistant on Long Beach State's 1989 NCAA National Championship team. VOLLEYBALL RULE CHANGES: NCAA volleyball rules changes this year include three important changes. First, the term "set" has replaced the word "game" as it is used internationally. Second, the number of points to win a set has been reduced from 30 to 25. Teams must still win by two points and the fifth set will still be played to 15. And lastly, because sets are now shorter, the number of allowable subs per set has been reduced from 15 to 12. LIVE ON THE INTERNET: All Gonzaga University women's volleyball home matches are available via Gametracker and live streaming on the internet at www.gozags.com. Check the Gonzaga website for all Gametracker and live streaming links. Gametracker for selected away matches are also available. Check out gozags.com for all Gametracker links.
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