Oct. 5, 2006

Box Score

Davis, Calif. - In one of the most exciting matches of the season, the Pacific women's volleyball rallied back from and 0-2 deficit to defeat UC Davis, 3-2, on Thursday, Oct. 5.

With the win, the Tigers moved to 4-11 on the season, while UC Davis fell to 2-15.

Game scores for the match were: 25-30, 25-30, 32-30, 30-22, 16-14.

Each team tried to deliver a knock out blow early in the decisive game five as UC Davis took a 3-1 lead, then Pacific rallied with four straight points to surge ahead 5-3. Freshman Meagan MimMack (Upland, Calif.) notched two of her career-high 17 kills to give the Tigers the lead. Pacific stretched its lead to four points at 9-5, but the Aggies battled back to tie the game at 11-11. Both teams had chances in the closing moments as UC Davis held a 14-13 edge, but Pacific tallied the final three points on a kill from sophomore Alexa Anderson (Los Gatos, Calif.) followed by two UC Davis errors.

Despite both teams putting together 5-0 runs, the first game was back and forth throughout, featuring 13 ties and five lead changes. The final tie of game one came at 25-25 as Pacific junior Johanna Hilbers (Omaha, Neb.) slammed home her third kill of the match on a slide play. Unfortunately the Aggies responded with their second run of five straight points to take game one, 30-25. Both teams finished the first game with a negative hitting percentage as Pacific had nine kills and 11 errors on 35 swings for a -.057 mark, while UC Davis had seven kills and nine errors on 30 swings to finish with a -.067 percentage.

Game two was again close in the early going as the two teams were tied eight times through the first 16 points, including at 8-8. Over the next 11 points, the Aggies took control with a 10-1 run to build an 18-9 advantage. UC Davis senior Nicole Reed led the Aggies charge with three kills during the run. Despite the large deficit, the Tigers refused to quit, staging a furious rally to pull within two points at 25-23. MimMack keyed Pacific's charge with five kills on six swings. The Aggies, however, were able to keep Pacific at bay just long enough to claim game two, 30-24.

Coming out of the break it was the Tigers that appeared energized as Pacific forced UC Davis into a quick timeout with 11 of the first 15 points. Trailing 11-4, UC Davis mounted a 10-3 run to tie game three at 14-14. Following two more ties, the Tigers regained control with three straight points on UC Davis errors to take a 19-16. Pacific pushed its lead to as much four at 25-21, but another Aggie rally tied the game at 25-25. Down the stretch the two teams traded points, with UC Davis earning the first game and match point at 30-29. Anderson kept Pacific alive with her eighth kill of the match to tie the game at 30-30. Following an attacking error by UC Davis, the Tigers capitalized on their first game point of the match when Anderson slammed down a set from freshman Olivia Riley (Agua Dulce, Calif.) to capture game three, 32-30.

The sting of the game three loss seemed to fire up UC Davis as the Aggies sprinted out to a 7-1 lead in game four. Following an early timeout from head coach Charlie Wade, the Tigers quickly regrouped with seven of the next nine points to claw back into the game at 9-7. Moments later with the game tied at 18-18, Pacific asserted their will with six straight points. MimMack started the rally with her 13th kill of the match, followed by back-to-back kills from sophomore Natalia Tomaszewska (Marklowice, Poland). Following two UC Davis errors, Hilbers capped the run with her fourth service ace of the match to push Pacific's lead to 24-18. The Tigers went on to even the match at two games with a 30-22 win in game four.

Anderson led the Tigers with 19 kills in the match, while MimMack notched a career-high 17 kills and Hilbers finished with 12 kills. Riley finished with her second career double-double with 49 assists and 15 digs.

Two other Tigers finished with impressive numbers as junior Julie Magud (Stockton, Calif.) led Pacific defensively with 31 digs, while freshman Masha Vaysburg (Livermore, Calif.) had a career-high 10 blocks.

The Aggies' Chantal Paschette led UC Davis with 19 kills.

The Tigers will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 7 when Pacific travels to UC Irvine for a match with the Anteaters at 7 pm.