Nov. 10, 2007

Box Score

Long Beach, Calif. - Despite a phenomenal rally to win game one, the Pacific women's volleyball team suffered a 3-1 loss to Long Beach State on Saturday, Nov. 11.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 15-9 on the season and 8-7 in Big West Conference play. Long Beach State, meanwhile, moved to 20-6 overall and 13-2 in conference action.

Game scores for the match were: 32-30, 20-30, 16-30 and 16-30.

Trailing 28-19 in the first game, the Tigers staged an improbable comeback due largely to the serving of junior Kara Uhl (Cypress, Calif.). The Tiger charge began as senior Johanna Hilbers (Omaha, Neb.) connected on the slide play to send Uhl to the service line. Uhl's first serve forced a poor reception and Long Beach State setter Nicole Vargas was called for a bad set to make it a 28-21 game. Following another kill by Hilbers, Uhl delivered back-to-back aces to draw Pacific within four at 28-24 and force Long Beach State to use a timeout.

When play resumed Uhl's serve forced an overpass from the 49ers Talaya Whitfield, allowed freshman Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany) to smack down a kill. The ensuing play, Uhl notched her third ace in four points to make it a 28-26 contest. Another tough serve by Uhl led to Engelhardt's second kill of the run as the Tigers moved within one point at 28-27.

After the 49ers ended Pacific's 7-0 run, the Tigers came right back with three straight points to take a 30-29 lead on a kill from Uhl, a Long Beach State attacking error and a service ace by Hilbers. The 49ers got back to even on a from Vargas, but sophomore Meagan MimMack (Upland, Calif.) gave Pacific its second game point by converting the slide play to the left. This time the Tigers capitalized as MimMack and Engelhardt secured the win with a block of Michaela Hasalikova to give Pacific a 32-30 win.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, Long Beach State was able to regain their composure and went on to take the next three games.

Pacific hit just .116 and .064 over the next two games as the Tigers converted 27 kills, but committed 19 errors on 90 attempts. The 49ers, meanwhile, notched 32 kills and just seven errors on 69 swings for a combined average of .362.

Game four saw Long Beach State increase their offensive production as the 49ers punished the Tigers with 19 kills and took the match with a 30-16 win.

MimMack led the Tigers with 16 kills in the match, while Hilbers finished with 15.

Alexis Crimes had one of her best matches of the season for the 49ers, finishing with 20 kills and only one error on 29 attempts for a .655 hitting percentage. Crimes also posted 14 digs for a double-double and delivered five block assists, three assists and two aces.

Pacific returns to action on Friday, Nov. 16 as the Tigers host UC Davis at 7 p.m. in the Alex G. Spanos Center.