Gonzaga University
1-2
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Mississippi State University
0-3
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi State | 30 | 25 | 30 | 26 | 14 | 2 |
| Gonzaga | 27 | 30 | 18 | 30 | 16 | 3 |
Volleyball Gains First Victory Of Season
8/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 30, 2003
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Christina Davis had 24 kills and Melissa Schickler contributed 34 assists as Gonzaga University got into the win column Saturday evening with a 27-30, 30-25, 18-30, 30-26, 16-14 win over Mississippi State University in a battle of Bulldogs at the Oregon State Volleyball Showcase at Gill Coliseum.
The match concluded tournament play for both sets of Bulldogs to open the season, Gonzaga going 1-2, MSU 0-3. Davis was named to the all-tournament team where she was joined by MVP Anne Watts-Roberts, Allison Lawrence and Karah Rhoades of host OSU, and Claire Robertson and Ellie Butterfield of Northern Arizona University. OSU won the tournament with a 3-0 record, NAU went 2-1, Gonzaga 1-2 and MSU 0-3.
Davis fell three kills shy of her career high in pacing the Gonzaga attack that saw the Bulldogs hit .275 for the match. Davis had 24 kills in 53 attack attempts for a .377 hitting percentage. Abby Cullen, for the most part silenced in the first two matches, had 13 kills and a .323 attack percentage and Jamie VanMeetren had 11 kills.
Schickler, a freshman setter from Manhattan Beach, Calif., who is filling in for the injured Emilee Giring, had 34 assists as she quarterbacked the Gonzaga offense.
The decisive fifth game saw Gonzaga rally from a 10-7 deficit to take an 11-10 lead as Davis had three straight kills to knot the match followed by an MSU attack error to give Gonzaga the lead. The match was tied at 12, 13 and 14 before Cullen recorded back-to-back kills to give Gonzaga the victory.
The first two games of the match were evenly played, MSU hitting .319 and Gonzaga .308 as the biggest lead by either team was a five-point MSU advantage on several occasions. Game two was a mirror image as Gonzaga's biggest lead was six points at 26-20. Both teams struggled offensively in game two, Gonzaga with 14 kills and a .184 attack percentage, MSU with 15 kills and a .163 percentage.
MSU gained the upper hand in game three, gaining the 12-point lead at 22-10 and coasting to the win to take the 2-1 lead in games. But Gonzaga raced to a 17-9 lead in game four only to have MSU go on a 15-5 run for a 24-22 lead. MSU still lead 26-25 before a Lauren Armas kill and four straight MSU attack errors gave Gonzaga the equalizer to force a fifth game.
MSU had five players with double-digit kills and had 85 kills for the match to 66 for Gonzaga. MSU also served 11 aces to three for Gonzaga.
Senior defensive specialist Heather Signor triggered the Gonzaga defense with 23 digs to move into the Top 10 career list with 897 to move past Nicole Lamoure who had 888 from 1995-98.
Gonzaga will compete in the Sands Regency Invitational in Reno, Nev., Friday and Saturday.
