April 11, 2008
Box Score
Stockton, Calif. - Despite a strong effort from senior middle blocker Blake Gentry (Ladera Ranch, Calif.), the Pacific men's volleyball team suffered a 3-0 loss to No. 7 UC Irvine on Friday, April 11. .
The loss dropped the Tigers to 4-24 on the season and 1-21 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. UC Irvine, meanwhile, moved to 15-13 overall and 11-10 in conference play.
The Tigers entered the Spanos Center on Friday Night, looking for one last upset in the final weekend of the season. They will have to wait one more night to achieve that goal. Errors plagued Pacific for a majority of the match as they fell to the No. 7 Anteaters in straight sets.
Game one started off slow for the Tigers as a powerful UC Irvine offense soared out to a 5-2 lead behind a kill from Cory Yoder. Pacific battled back however they mounted a scoring run of their own behind a kill in the middle from Gentry to make the score 8-7, UC Irvine. Over the next several plays, both hitting and serving errors plagued the teams, as four of the next seven points were scored on errors.
With the score 13-10 in favor of the Anteaters, the Tigers slumped offensives to find themselves trailing 20-16 after a kill on the outside from UC Irvine's Jon Steller. Pacific trailed the rest of the game as the high-powered offense of the Anteaters proved to be too much for the Tigers to handle. Two consecutive kills by UC Irvine closed out the game, 30-25, UC Irivne. Pacific was led by senior Pekka Seppanen (Kuopio, Finland) and sophomore Jason Borchin (Roseville, Calif.) who each had four kills.
The second game began in a much more competitive fashion, as both teams answered each other kill for kill until the score was 7-7. Here, both teams started to slide. The offensive prowess that was around in the beginning of the game turned into a slop-fest of service errors. Six of the next thirteen points were off of service errors alone, and this allowed for a very close game, making it 14-13, Pacific.
The Tigers continued the battle with a kill on the outside from Seppanen. Pacific then scored five of the next eight points to take the lead 19-17 using a service error from UC Irvine's Stellar. The Anteaters would not back down however, as they rallied back into the game behind a thundering kill from middle blocker Aaron Harrell to tie the score at 23-23. The battle of attrition waged on as the teams again exchanged offensive blows down the stretch. With the score 27-27, UC Irvine proved why they entered the match ranked No. 7 in the country. Three consecutive kills by UC Irvine, closed out the game, with a 30-27 victory for the visitors. Pacific was led by Seppanen who had seven kills in the game.
Game three proved to be a challenge for Pacific, as they trailed by a large margin early on in the game. Down 7-3, the Tigers just could not find any sort of offensive spark to get a rally going. Blocking errors were costly, and the Anteater attack was too much for Pacific to handle in the end. Finding themselves down 25-14, the Tigers attempted to launch one more rally before the end. Earning six of the next nine points, Pacific brought the score to 28-20, UC Irvine favor, with a service ace from senior Simon Chen-Byerley (Northfield, Ill.). The Tigers comeback proved to be too little, too late however, as the Anteaters finished the game, and the match, 30-22.
Pacific was led by Seppanen, who tallied 12 kills on the night, while Gentry earned seven kills, with no errors on 12 swings to lead the team with a .583 hitting percentage.
UC Irvine was led by both Steller and Yoder who each earned 16 kills for the Anteaters.
The Tigers are next in action Saturday, April 12th, as they face the No. 6 ranked UCLA Bruins at 7 pm in the Spanos Center. It will be Senior Night, and the last match in the orange and black for Pekka Seppanen, Blake Gentry, and Simon Chen-Byerley.
