Oct. 10, 2009

Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash. - LMU (9-9, 0-4) was swept on the road on Saturday by Gonzaga (6-10, 2-1), 25-21, 25-21, 25-21, in West Coast Conference play. The Lions have now lost six straight matches.

The Lions hit just .183 as a team in the loss, with the highlight coming from Alaina Bergsma and Becky Stehling with 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Bergsma recorded a double-double, teaming 11 digs with her match-high tying 12 kills and two service aces. Sophomore Alesha Young dished-out a match-best 20 assists, while freshman Olivia Bailey collected 12 in her own right.

Michelle Boevers and Emily Johnson matched Bergsma and Stehling, connecting for 12 and 10 kills of their own, in that order. Johnson was the lone Bulldog with a double-double, teaming her kills mark with 10 digs. Denise Van de Mortel passed-out 17 assists, while Kelsey Bashaw had 15, as Gonzaga managed to hit .248 as a team in the win.

Boevers paved the way in the first set for Gonzaga, collecting five kills on seven attacks with a service ace, helping Gonzaga to a .303 team hitting percentage. Stehling started the match well, posting four kills on five swings with no errors for LMU. Ariana Covington and Bergsma each notched a service ace, but it was not enough for LMU. After battling to a 10-10 tie, Gonzaga pulled slightly ahead at 13-11 on a Kaprina Goodwin kill. That lead progressed to 16-13 on a Lion service error before Boevers connected to run the tally to 20-16. A Covington attack error pushed the set to its final point before Caitlin Cozad found the floor to secure the win.

Set two proved fairly even, as LMU hit .357 and Gonzaga hit .417. Bergsma performed well, posting five kills on nine attacks with one service ace. Stehling and Crouse each pitched-in three, but Brosky's four, teamed with three kills apiece from Cozad, Boevers and Johnson was too much for the Lions. Gonzaga, which finished with 13.5 total team blocks, had 5.5 in the second set alone, led by three block assists from Cozad and Johnson. Despite the two teams playing close the entire way, Gonzaga held the lead virtually throughout, as LMU was even only at the 2-2 mark. Two Lion attack errors and a Cozad kill handed Gonzaga a 9-4 lead early. Back-to-back kills from Brosky pushed the Bulldogs to the 15-point plateau at 15-12 before the Lions closed the gap to one point at 18-17 on two Bulldog errors and a kill from Jasmine Rankins. One more kill from Bergsma late in the set maintained the one-point lead at 21-20, but Gonzaga would score four of the next five points to take a 2-0 match lead.

While neither team hit well in the third, with Gonzaga out-hitting LMU, .114 to .077, the Bulldogs took the set and the sweep over the Lions. Bergsma contributed her final four kills of the match, but Johnson put forth five to accompany four from Bashaw and Boevers to ensure the win. Just as they were in the third set, the Bulldogs were outstanding on the block, teaming for six blocks, including a block solo and two block assists from Goodwin. The Lions trailed early in the set, falling behind 10-5 en route to a 15-9 deficit on a Bashaw kill. Scratching back into the set and showing fight, LMU ran the tally to 18-16 to force a Gonzaga timeout following a Stehling kill. The break served its role, as Gonzaga won the next two points out of the huddle to reach 20 points. Goodwin's solo block ran the match to its final point before Brosky and Cozad teamed to stuff Covington to hand Gonzaga the sweep.

LMU returns to action on October 17 at Pepperdine.