Gonzaga University
4-0
Montana
1-3
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gonzaga | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| Montana | 18 | 18 | 9 | 0 |
Zags Remain Unbeaten with Sweep of Montana
9/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
MISSOULA, Mont.-Never trailing during the match, the Gonzaga University volleyball team powered past Montana with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-9) sweep Saturday at the West Auxiliary Gym in Missoula.
The Bulldogs held the lead throughout the first two sets, but they didn't pull away from Montana until halfway through in both. In the first, Montana came within one at 14-13, but McKayla Ferris halted the UM run with a kill and sideout. Senior Morgan Douglass took the serve and dialed up six points - one an ace - to put the Zags up comfortably. Also during the run, GU scored off another Ferris kill, a block from Imani Wimbush and Katelyn Oppio, and three straight Montana attack errors. The two teams then essentially traded points for the rest of the set, which GU won by seven points.
The second frame started out with a pair of runs: the Zags scored nine of the first 11 for a 9-2 lead, but the Griz responded with six straight to pull within one. Paige Folger halted the run with a kill, and the Zags added three more points to lead by five. Montana whittled that lead down to three, but the Zags again pulled away late for another 25-18 set win.
In the final frame, Gonzaga dominated the service game to rush past the Grizzlies and clinch the match. Five of GU's seven aces came in the frame, and the Bulldogs posted a sideout percentage of 80 percent (8x10) in the set. The match's only tie score came early at 2-all, but five of the next six points gave GU a lead that'd never be relinquished. The Zags saw an 8-1 run in the middle of the frame and closed out the match by winning the final six points, the last of which came on a kill from Jenna Kuehn.
Bulldog Bites:
- The Zags advance to 4-0 with the win. It's the program's best start to a season since 1990 when they won their first six matches. Head coach Diane Nelson is the first coach in Gonzaga's Division I history (since 1986) to begin her tenure with four straight wins.
- Gonzaga has swept the last three meetings between the two squads (since 2014). Ferris has been a big part of all three of those games, pounding 41 kills (4.56 per set) and a .423 hitting percentage (41-8-78). She added 11 kills and a .455 hitting mark Saturday.
- With seven aces, the Zags set a new season high and matched their best from last season as well. That figure also equals the most aces in a three-set match in nearly two years: they hit eight aces in a sweep of Weber State on Sept. 13, 2014, a span of 54 matches.
- Three Bulldogs made their collegiate debuts Saturday: Hailey Dunn, Tessie Powers, and Marit Thorkildsen. Dunn contributed a pair of kills to the Zags' cause, while Powers added a dig and Thorkildsen an ace. In all, 12 different Bulldogs saw playing time against Montana.
Zag Speak: Thoughts from Gonzaga head coach Diane Nelson
"We got better in serve receive and serving as the match progressed, and any time you can run out middles, good things happen. That's part of our plan every day, but if we don't pass well it can be challenging."
Next Up:
Gonzaga (4-0) will return to tournament play next weekend with three matches at the Nevada Wolf Pack Tournament in Reno, Nevada. They begin the weekend on Friday, Sept. 9 with a 7:00 p.m. match against the host Wolf Pack and will play Southern Utah and UC Davis the following day.
