Oct. 3, 2008
Box Score
Santa Barbara, Calif. - It took five excruciatingly back-and-forth sets, but Pacific was able to keep composure and walk away with its first road win against UC Santa Barbara since 2004, taking the match 3-2 on Friday, Oct. 3.
The reigning Big West Player of the Week, Alexa Anderson (Los Gatos, Calif.) helped the Tigers' cause with a team-high 21 kills in the match, as Pacific went 23-25, 25-20, 21-25, 25-23 and 15-13 on the night.
With the win, Pacific moved to 3-8 overall and a perfect 3-0 in the Big West Conference. The match dropped UC Santa Barbara to 6-8 on the season, and 2-1 in the Big West.
Fittingly, a match that had more twists and turns than a roller coaster, begin with a wild first set. UC Santa Barbara stormed out of the gate in their first home match of the season to a 17-9 lead, putting Pacific on its heels. Rather than gracefully bow out of the first set, Pacific buoyed themselves behind junior Mallori Gibson (Bakersfield, Calif.). Gibson steadied Pacific with a cross-court kill to make it 17-10, then served the Tigers back into the match with five straight points. Gibson's tough serve helped force the Gauchos into five straight errors, capped by a block on the outside from junior Megan MimMack (Upland, Calif.) and sophomore Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany).
Back in the set at 17-15, the Tigers used another surge at 21-18 to reclaim the lead. Gibson got things started once again on a cross-court kill, then Anderson sandwiched two kills around a block by junior Masha Vaysburg (Livermore, Calif.) to boost the Tigers to a 22-21 edge. With everything going Pacific's way, the Gauchos responded with four of the next five points to take the first set, 25-23. UC Santa Barbara notched an impressive 19 kills in the first set and hit .381 committing only five errors on 44 attempts. The Tigers didn't perform poorly either, posting a .281 average with 14 kills and five errors on 32 swings.
Fired up by both charging back in the first set and by falling short, the Tigers raced out to a 14-2 lead in set number two. Gibson led the early push with three kills, while Engelhardt and Vaysburg notched two. This time it was the Gauchos turn to fight back. UC Santa Barbara did more than just make the set competitive, the Gauchos put a healthy scare into Pacific, clawing all the way back within three points at 21-18 and at 22-19. The Tigers though maintained their composure, allowing Gibson and Engelhardt to deliver consecutive kills and push the lead back to 24-19. Pacific went on to even the match behind a 25-20 victory. The Tigers held UC Santa Barbara to just a .088 percentage in the set, allowing nine kills and forcing six errors on 34 attempts.
Out of the break, the match settled into the type of back-and-forth matchup many were expecting, featuring nine ties and six lead changes in the third set alone and more than in each of the first two sets combined. The tipping point of the third set came at 19-19. UC Santa Barbara's Charlene DeHoog stepped out of the shadow of teammate Lauren McLaughlin to record back-to-back cross-court kills, boosting the Gauchos to a 21-19 edge. Following a Pacific timeout, DeHoog dominated play, accounting for every point the rest of the way. She blocked Gibson out of the timeout, then punched down another kill to make it 23-19. DeHoog finished the set with two attack errors and two more kills to give the Gauchos a 25-21 win. DeHoog finished the set with seven kills (including five over the final eight points) and just two errors on 12 attempts.
Trailing the match 2-1, the Tigers battled through the best knockout punched that UC Santa Barbara could muster, simply bouncing back for another go. Trailing 11-8, senior setter Shannon Krug (Colorado Springs, Colo.) refused to let her team panic, simply finding Engelhardt on the outside for a kill, then directing traffic in the middle to set up a solo block for MimMack. The next play saw MimMack team with Krug to block McLaughlin, knotting things up at 11-11.
UC Santa Barbara rattled off four straight points to forge back ahead, 15-11, but Pacific simply responded with kills from Anderson, then Vaysburg and a timely service ace by junior Carly Hiromoto (Aiea, Hawaii) to pull back within one at 15-14. Following a point for the Gauchos, Pacific forced two more UC Santa Barbara errors, capped by a solo block from Anderson to tie things up again, this time at 16-16. In all, set four saw 14 ties, the last coming at 23-23. With the match hanging in the balance, the senior tandem of Krug and Anderson took it upon themselves to continue playing. Krug fed the ball to Anderson continually down the stretch and Alexa delivered with two terminating swings to force a fifth game, 25-23. Anderson had six kills and did not commit an error in 12 swings to lead Pacific through the fourth set win.
Thanks to head coach Charlie Wade's strength of schedule this preseason, Pacific was ready for a fifth set on the road and in a tough environment like the Thunderdome. MimMack got the Tigers off to a good start with a kill on the slide, then a block with Anderson to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Pacific maintained their lead at 5-3, but the Gauchos exploded on a four point burst to take a 7-5 edge. UC Santa Barbara extended their advantage to 10-7, but the leadership Gibson's showed in the first set came to the forefront once again. Refusing to burn his final timeout, Wade left things to his team and Gibson slammed a kill down the line to make it 10-8, then stepped back to the service line. Mallori's placement forced UC Santa Barbara's McLaughlin into a poor swing and another attack error to get Pacific within one at 10-9, then Gibson picked a stellar time for her only ace of the night to tie the set at 10-10.
After UC Santa Barbara used its final timeout, the Tigers continued to steak their claim to the match as a solo block by MimMack gave the Tigers an 11-10 lead. Another Gaucho error made it 12-10, then Engelhardt capped the run with a cross-court kill to make it 13-10. Although UC Santa Barbara pulled within a point at 13-12, Engelhardt delivered another cross-court winner to make it 14-12. A controversial call near the Tigers bench, gave the Gauchos one last chance at 14-13, but a service error from Chelsea Pavlik of the Gauchos punctuated the Tigers' victory, 15-13.
In addition to Anderson's 21 kills, three Tigers finished with double-doubles in the match. Gibson posted 14 kills and 15 digs, Engelhardt finished with 11 kills and 10 digs, while Krug had 52 assists and 10 digs. Senior libero Kara Uhl (Long Beach, Calif.) led Pacific with a match-high 21 digs.
DeHoog finished with a match-high 22 kills, while McLaughlin had 20 kills and 16 digs.
Pacific continues its trip to the Central Coast, with another game against No. 24 Cal Poly at Mott Gym. Opening serve is set for 7 p.m.
