Oct. 29, 2005

Box Score

Northridge, Calif. - The Pacific Tigers women's volleyball team swept past Cal State Northridge, 3-0, on Saturday, Oct. 29. Game scores for the match were, 30-20, 30-25, 30-27. The win moved Pacific to 13-9 on the season and 6-3 in Big West Conference play, while the Matadors dropped to 4-18 overall and 2-9 in conference play.

After falling behind 9-6, Pacific battled back as the Tigers scored 12 of the next 18 points to take an 18-15 lead. Cal State Northridge regained the lead at 24-23, but Pacific scored the next four points of the game and went on to take game one, 30-20. The Tigers forced the Matadors into 12 errors and allowed just nine kills as Cal State Northridge finished game one with a -.086 hitting percentage. Pacific, meanwhile, hit .207 during the game, committing just five errors.

Game two got off to a seesaw battle, featuring 10 ties in the first 30 points. Trailing 15-14, the Tigers scored four straight points to take an 18-15 lead. After a Matador timeout, Cal State Northridge pulled back within two, Pacific sophomore Kara Uhl (Cypress, Calif.) delivered four consecutive kills to put the Tigers up 22-16. The Matadors got as close as one point at 24-23, but the Tigers went on to take game two 30-25.

The third game got off to a similar close start with the two teams battling back and forth to a 15-15 tie. Once again it was the Tigers that grabbed the advantage with three straight points on kills by seniors Sidney Bennett (Louisville, Ky.) and Ashley Groothuis (Aurora, Neb.) and a two-hit violation against Cal State Northridge. This time, however, the Matadors would respond with a five point surge to take a 22-20 lead. Pacific came right back with six of the next eight points to claim a 26-24 lead. The two teams traded points to move the score to 29-27, when Groothuis ended the match with a thunderous kill from the left side.

Uhl led the Tigers with 17 kills, while Darla Donaldson led Cal State Northridge with 11 kills in the match. Uhl also had 10 digs to record her fifth double-double of the season.

Pacific will be back in action on Thursday, Nov. 3 as the Tigers return home to take on Long Beach State. The match will begin at 7 p.m. in the Alex G. Spanos Center.