Box Score

The LMU volleyball team (18-5, 6-5 WCC) was pushed to the limit on Thursday night at home in Gersten Pavilion, but the Lions defeated Gonzaga (14-7, 5-5 WCC) in five sets by scores of 17-25, 25-20, 25-17, 22-25, 20-18. The victory was the 22nd straight home win over the Bulldogs.

Senior Litara Keil led the way for the Lions, collecting 21 kills on 42 swings for a .286 hitting percentage. The native of Long Beach, Calif. teamed the 21 kills with a service ace and seven blocks (six block assists). The Lions, who hit .154 as a team, managed 13 total team blocks guided by nine block assists from Rachelle Suaava. Freshman Sarah Sponcil managed her fifth double-double of the season, combining 10 kills with 20 digs and three block assists. Narrowly missing a double-double of her own, junior Hannah Tedrow posted 54 assists, three aces and eight digs. The Lions served up six aces in total, but also erred on 14 serves.

Savannah Blinn had another solid match for Gonzaga, posting a match-high 23 kills on 63 attacks, but Gonzaga hit just .131 as a team. Lauren Joseph collected the only double-double for the visitors, teaming 41 assists with 12 digs from the setter position.

Even at two sets apiece, the two teams fed their go-to attackers in the fifth and final frame. Keil registered five of her 21 kills in the finale, while Blinn had four on 14 swings. Both teams had match-point opportunities, but it was the Lions who escaped with the victory on three straight kills from Keil. LMU nearly had the set slip away after holding a 14-11 match-point lead on a kill from Caitlin DeWitt, as Blinn posted two aces and the Zags recorded one of their 14 team blocks to even the tally at 14. The match was then sent into a seesaw battle that featured a number of quality rallies and tough points. After Gonzaga killed off another match point at 15-14, it got its first shot at the victory by way of a kill from Jordan Gasser to make the score 16-15 in favor of the Bulldogs. Sponcil answered for the Lions, followed by a Gonzaga attack error to hand LMU yet another match-point chance, but Suaava served into the net to knot the tally at 17-17. A kill from McKayla Ferris pushed the advantage in favor of Gonzaga on the next point, but LMU fed Keil over the final three plays, erasing the deficit and earning the victory.

As thrilling as the fifth set was, the first four sets saw a very inconsistent attack from both teams. LMU hit -.026 in the first, falling behind from the beginning and never rebounding en route to dropping the opener, 25-17. While Gonzaga hit just .176 on its side of the net in the first, four kills from Blinn and five total team blocks proved plenty enough to take the opener.

The second set proved much closer, as the two teams played to 12 tie scores and four lead changes, and LMU managed a .256 attack percentage behind six kills on seven swings from Keil and five kills from DeWitt. The Lion block also came alive in the second, registering five total blocks, including three block assists from Suaava. The two teams were even as late as 18-18, but a kill from DeWitt and an ace from Keil handed LMU the two-point advantage. LMU's second service ace of the set, this one from Tedrow, made it 22-19 LMU before the Lions closed the set on a three-point run, capped by back-to-back block assists from Suaava and Sponcil.

Despite LMU posting its largest victory of the night in the third at 25-17, the Lions hit just .097 in the period. Fortunately LMU held Gonzaga to a .000 hitting percentage and also received two aces and two blocks. LMU looked to be in full control of the set leading 16-9 after a pair of Gonzaga attack errors, but kills from Blinn and Ferris joined with four Lion attack errors over the next few points to make things very interesting at 17-16. While LMU did not elect to use a timeout, the Lions did right the ship, rattling off six straight points to reclaim a commanding 23-16 lead. LMU eventually earned the set on consecutive kills from Suaava and Tedrow.

Needing to win the fourth set to force a fifth and final stanza, Gonzaga looked to its leader in Blinn to push forward. Blinn answered the call in a big way, registering 10 kills on 19 attacks to guide the Bulldogs to a 25-22 victory. The Lions managed four blocks and two aces of their own in the fourth, but LMU hit just .146 before dropping the set. While the two teams played fairly even early in the period, Gonzaga used a 6-1 run from 11-11 to 17-12 to open up a bit of breathing room. That lead held all the way to 22-20 before a Keil kill and a Bulldog attack error evened the tally at 22. Unfortunately for LMU, the comeback was not in the cards as Keil was blocked by Paige Folger before Blinn found the floor for her final two kills of the set to force the action-packed fifth set.

LMU will return to action on Saturday when it hosts Portland at Noon.