Jan. 12, 2007

Box Score

STOCKTON, Calif. - The No. 14 Pacific men's volleyball team built an early two-game advantage, but No. 6 UC Santa Barbara rallied to win the final three games in a five-game Mountain Pacific Sports Federation victory over the Tigers on Friday, Jan. 12, at the Alex G. Spanos Center. The Gauchos took the match, 29-31, 29-31, 30-23, 33-31 and 15-12.

With the loss, Pacific fell to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in MPSF play. UCSB improved to 3-1 overall (1-0 MPSF).

Game one went back and fourth between the two teams until a kill by Theo Brunner gave the Gauchos game point at 29-27. The Tigers went on to record four straight points to take the game 31-29 on two kills each for senior Matt Cornell (Granada Hills, Calif.) and sophomore Maor Nutkevitch (Ra'anana, Israel).

In game two, the Tigers held a 21-16 lead until the Gauchos clawed back to tie the game up at 25-25. Nutkevitch went on to record his second straight game clinching kill to give the Tigers another 31-29 game victory.

With the Tigers in control of the match two games to none, the Gauchos came out of the break fired up as they came back to control game three 30-23. Game four was another back and forth struggle that saw the Tigers fend off a game point at 29-28 with a kill by Nutkevitch to tie the game at 29-29. The Tigers would then have game point at 30-29 following another Nutkevitch kill, but would be unable to put it away as Nutkevitch would in turn serve the ball into the net on the following point. With the Gauchos serving game point at 32-31, Bryan Berman and David Kennedy combined for a block to force a fifth and deciding game.

In the final game, UCSB came out strong, taking a 6-1 lead before the Tigers pulled to with one at 7-6. However, that was as close as the Tigers would get, as with the Gauchos serving match point, setter Bart Kowalski recorded his lone kill of the evening on a setter dump to give UC Santa Barbara the victory.

The Tigers were led by Cornell, who had a career high 25 kills while hitting .444. Nutkevitch also posted a career high with 19 kills, while junior Pekka Seppanen (Kuopio, Finland) added 18.

The Gauchos were led by Evan Patak, who recorded 40 kills, 13 digs, six service aces and four block assists. Brunner added 23 kills while hitting a match high .667.

Both teams posted season high hitting percentages, with the Tigers hitting .377 and the Gauchos hitting .417. Neither team recorded a block in games two and three.

The Tigers are back in action on Saturday, January 13th as they host Cal State Northridge in the Alex G. Spanos Center. First serve is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.