Oct. 25, 2008

Box Score

Long Beach, Calif. - Despite improved play, the Pacific women's volleyball team suffered their fourth consecutive loss, falling to Long Beach State, 3-0, on Saturday, Oct. 25.

The loss dropped Pacific to 5-13 on the season and 5-4 in the Big West Conference. Long Beach State, meanwhile, moved to 18-4 overall and 7-2 in conference.

Set scores were: 25-22, 25-19 and 25-22

As expected the host 49ers got out to a fast start in the first set, building a lead of five at 14-9. However, Pacific was able to keep Long Beach State in striking distance at each turn, scoring three straight on a kill from junior Mallori Gibson (Bakersfield, Calif.) followed by back-to-back aces from junior Dancyne Kama (Hilo, Hawaii) to get back within two at 14-12. Trailing 18-14 moments later, the Tigers rattled off five of the next six points to tie things up at 19-19. Pacific's quick burst was fueled by forcing Long Beach State into four errors, capped by a solo block from senior Alexa Anderson (Los Gatos, Calif.) to force the tie.

A few points later, Anderson led Pacific to the lead with consecutive points on a kill and a block with junior Masha Vaysburg (Livermore, Calif.) to give the Tigers a 22-21 edge and force Long Beach State head coach Brian Gimmilaro to use his second and final timeout. Unfortunately, the 24-year coaching veteran produced a little magic as Long Beach State scored the final four points to take the first set, 25-22.

After dropping nine of the opening 10 points in the second set, Pacific dug themselves too deep of a hole to rebound from. The Tigers outplayed Long Beach State the rest of the way, pulling as close as four points at 18-14 and 19-15, but they could not undo the early damage done, falling 25-19. Long Beach State hit a match-high .323 in the set with 13 kills and just three errors on 31 attempts, while Pacific had 15 kills and nine errors on 30 swings for a .200 average.

Set number three was the Tigers' best effort of the night as Pacific built their largest lead of the match at 17-14 midway through. Long Beach State, however, rose to the challenge with five of the next six points, led by two kills from Quincy Verdin and two Tiger errors. Down 20-18, the Tigers pulled within a point two times down the stretch, but could not get even, dropping the set and the match, 25-22.

Sophomore Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany) led Pacific with eight kills in the match, while freshman Rebekah Torres (Wahiawa, Hawaii) delivered four kills on five swings off the bench in the loss.

Verdin led the 49ers with a match-high 12 kills.

The Tigers return to the court on Friday, Oct. 31 when they host the two-time defending Big West Conference champion, the Cal Poly Mustangs, at 7 p.m. in the Alex G. Spanos Center.