Spokane, Wash. - Opening West Coast Conference play on the road, the No. 23 ranked Tigers were upset by the Bulldogs as Gonzaga came up with a 3-1 win over Pacific on Thursday night. The loss for Tigers marked their first defeat at the hands of the Bulldogs as Pacific fell to 9-3 on the year while the Zags improved to 10-4.

Set scores for the match were: 25-18, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23.

Trailing early in the opening set, the Tigers were able to fight their way back to even at 14-14 only to see the Bulldogs pull away to put Pacific in catchup mode. Using a 4-0 run to break the tie, Gonzaga established a defensive mindset that would play out throughout the match as they kept the floor clean to win 11 of the final 15 points of the set to take the opening victory. Pacific's offense struggled to find holes in the Gonzaga defense as the Bulldogs came up with 17 digs in the opening set and held the Tigers to just .079 hitting.

With the offensive still unable to find a crack in the Zags' defense, Pacific looked to its own defense to change the flow of the contest as the Tigers set their block up early and often to frustrate the Bulldogs' attack. Led by junior Alicia Wilk, the Tigers turned the tables on the Zags, holding the Bulldogs to just .024 hitting in the set as Wilk came up with four blocks to led the efforts. With Wilk forcing the Bulldog attackers to adjust, the backline defense held strong as Lexi Elman, Mia Feiner, Maycie LaBass, and Katrin Gotterba went to work, scooping up 19 Zags attacks from every angle. Just as the Bulldogs had done in the first set, the Tigers turned a close set on its head with a 5-0 run midway through the frame to build a lead they would not give back.

Despite a quick start to the third set for the Tigers offensively, the contest would become a battle of attrition and a contest to see who would blink first down the stretch. Unfortunately for Pacific, it would be the Tigers who came up on the short end of the stick as Gonzaga walled off the net as they did in the first set, posting seven total blocks in the third to steal away the set and take the 2-1 advantage. Two of the seven blocks for the Zags came at the end of the set as they used a pair by Paige Folger to end Tigers hope for a rally. In addition to the Zags' block, Pacific's service game continued to struggle as they committed four errors in the set including one at 22-22 that halted what looked like a potential late set rally for the Tigers.

In almost the same exact fashion as the third set, the Tigers could not get out of their own way late in the frame as they saw a 19-17 lead disappear as the Zags clamped down defensively at the net while the service game made some critical mistakes. With two late service errors and two more Bulldogs' blocks, the Tigers saw the fourth set and the match slip away despite the offense hitting a nights' best, .387 in the frame.

Overall, the Bulldogs finished the match with 17.0 total blocks, a season best for the Zags and the most blocks against the Tigers since BYU put up 15.0 total blocks on Nov. 8, 2014. Despite a rough go early, Elman still led all attackers in the match with 18 kills as she began to find openings late against the Bulldogs. Additionally, Elman added 14 digs for her seventh double-double of the season while Gotterba also chipped in a match-high 14 digs. LaBass would finished the match with 13 kills to match a career high while taking a career-high 40 swings. Wilk ended with 10 kills on .450 hitting to go with six blocks.

Behind the service line Pacific committed 16 service errors to help the Zags' offense. The 16 errors for Pacific were the most for the Tigers since the 2009 season when they committed 17 against Troy on Sept.11. For the Bulldogs, Savannah Blinn led the attack with 14 kills to go with seven blocks while Jordan Gasser added 12 kills and five blocks. In the middle, Folger finished her night with 10 of the Zags' 17 blocks.

Pacific will look to rebound on Saturday when they head to Portland to take on the 11-2 Pilots. Portland defeated Saint Mary's on Thursday night to begin conference play. The match will finish off a 13-match road trip for the Tigers to start the 2015 season.