Nov. 8, 2008

Box Score

Irvine, Calif. - All good things must come to an end and unfortunately that included the Pacific women's volleyball teams' four match winning streak as the Tigers fell to UC Irvine, 3-1, on Saturday, Nov. 8.

The loss dropped Pacific to 9-14 on the season and 8-5 in the Big West Conference, while UC Irvine moved to 14-11 overall and 9-3 in conference play.

Set scores for the match were: 25-17, 15-25, 25-21 and 25-15.

An early stumble in the first set cost Pacific as the Tigers fell behind 7-1 in the opening moments. The Tigers played the rest of the first set competitively against UC Irvine, however, Pacific got no closer than two points at 9-7 as the Anteaters took the first set, 25-17. The Tigers hit just .103 in the loss, posting nine kills and five errors on 39 attempts.

Pacific's fortunes turned 180 degrees in the second set as the Tigers could do no wrong. Pacific punched out 14 kills and just two errors on 24 attempts, to hit .500. Pacific went on to take the set, 25-15. The key run of the match came at 6-6 as the Tigers scored eight of the next 10 points to take a 14-8 lead. Sophomore Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany) anchored Pacific's push with four kills during the run.

The third game was one the Tigers will look back at wonder what could have been. Trailing 22-18, the Tigers scored consecutive points on a UC Irvine service error, followed by a block from Engelhardt and senior Natalia Tomaszewska (Marklowice, Poland) to make it 22-20. The next play resulted in a overpass to the Tigers, but miscommunication allowed the ball to drop untouched, giving UC Irvine a 23-20 lead. The Anteaters went on to take the set, 25-21.

The fourth set looked very similar to the first set as the Tigers finished the set hitting .000 with eight kills and eight errors on 35 attempts. Pacific's inefficiency allowed UC Irvine to close out the match, 25-15.

Engelhardt led Pacific with 10 kills and a team-high 16 digs for her second consecutive double-double.

Pestolesi made her case to be Big West Player of the Week, finishing the match with 19 kills, five aces and 13 digs to lead UC Irvine.

Pacific returns home to face Cal State Northridge on Friday, Nov. 14 in the Alex G. Spanos Center at 7 p.m.