Feb. 1, 2008

Box Score

STOCKTON, Calif. - The Pacific men's volleyball team dropped to 1-9 on the season with a 30-23, 30-26, 28-30, 30-25 loss to Ball State (5-5) on Friday, Feb. 1, at the Alex G. Spanos Center.

Riding the wave of victory after their win over No.7 Stanford the night before, the Tigers came out for their match against visiting Ball State, feeling confident.

The beginning of game one did not start off well for the Tigers as they quickly fell into a 5-2 hole due to unforced errors both on the serving and hitting sides of the ball. The poor offense persisted for the Tigers and Ball State continued to keep Pacific at bay as a kill by J.D. Gasparovic to make it 12-8, Cardinal lead. The Tigers battled back to within one point to make the score 18-17 Ball State. Pacifc played hard, but the offensive force of Patrick Durbin and Todd Chamberlin on the outside proved to be too much for Pacific as they fell 30-23.

Game two was competitive early on between the two teams, garnering a 3-3 tie to start off the game. It was from this point that Ball State scored five out of the next six points to take an 8-4 lead, behind three kills from Partrick Durbin in that span. The offensive woes continued for the Tigers throughout the game until the score was 22-19, Ball State. Pacific found a spark at this point and as able to rally from a deficit and bring the score back to 23-21. Here Ball State earned five straight points to take a seven point lead at 28-21, but Pacific was not done. Several hitting errors from the Cardinals and a few well timed blocks by redshirt junior Joe Forbes (Westport, Conn.) and Hendershot brought the game back within reach, however that Tigers couldn't complete the comeback as a ball handling error ended the game 30-26.

Game three started off in similar fashion to the other games, with the Tigers down 4-1 early. More struggles on the offensive end put Pacific into a 6-2 deficit. The teams battled back and forth, trading blows, until the score was 21-17 Ball State. Here the Tigers turned over a new leaf and mounted a rally that saw them score five unanswered points to take a 22-21 lead, behind the blocking of senior Simon Chen-Byerley (Northfield, Ill.) who had three in that rally. Pacific capitalized on several unforced errors by the Cardinals to take a 29-27 lead, one point later senior Pekka Seppanen (Kuopio, Finland) sealed the deal by burying a kill from the outside to win the game 30-28.

Coming off their emotional victory from game three, the Tigers used their momentum to push out to a 6-4 lead behind a kill from Chen-Byerley. The battle was on at this point, as the both the Tigers and the Cardinals exchanged offensive blows, until the score was 13-11 Ball State. Again, the Cardinals charged ahead to a five point lead behind hitting errors by Seppanen, to make the score 18-13. Pacific never recovered from the deficit, and could not answer the offensive wave of Ball State. With the Cardinals ahead 29-25, an attack error by Hendershot ended the Tigers night, and dropped the game and the match 30-25.

Pacific was led by Chen-Byerley who had 14 kills, two errors, on 25 swings for a .480 hitting percentage. Sophomore Mark Bauhs (Danville, Calif.) earned a career high 13 digs on the night.

Ball State was led by Chamberlin who had 19 kills on 35 swings for a .371 hitting percentage.

The Tigers return to the court on Friday, Feb. 8 as Pacific hosts Cal State Northridge at 7 p.m. in the Alex G. Spanos Center.