Aug. 30, 2008
Box Score
Gainesville, Fla. Despite a spirited effort from the Pacific women's volleyball team in its second match of the season, the Tigers fell to No. 8 Florida, 3-0, on Saturday, Aug. 30.
The loss dropped the Tigers to 0-2 on the season, while Florida moved to 2-0 overall.
Sophomore Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany) got the Tigers off to a fast start with consecutive aces to start the match. The 2-0 edge, grew to a 6-1 lead as senior Alexa Anderson (Los Gatos, Calif.) delivered a solo block and junior Mallori Gibson (Bakersfield, Calif.) capped the spurt with Pacific's first kill, forcing a Florida timeout.
Coming out of the break, the Gators rattled off five straight points, forcing the first tie of the set at 6-6. In spite of the Gators pressure, Pacific did not flinch, matching the Gators play-for-play in the first set. The two teams went back and forth through eight more ties (nine total) and four lead changes to 19-19 tie. With the set on the line, the Tigers committed three consecutive errors to fall behind 22-19. That small gap was all the eighth-ranked Gators needed to push through and claim the first set, 25-21.
The Tigers raised their game in the second set as Pacific earned two set points. Trailing 17-15 midway through the set, the Tigers rattled off five of the next six points to take a 20-18 lead. Engelhardt led the way with two kills during the run, but the biggest play was a block in the middle from junior Masha Vaysburg (Livermore, Calif.) and senior setter Shannon Krug (Colorado Springs, Colo.).
Leading 23-21 moments later, Florida notched back-to-back points to tie the game at 23-23. The Tigers responded with a cross-court kill from Gibson to earn their first set point. Unfortunately, a service error knotted the set at 24-24. The ensuing point saw Anderson put the Tigers back in position to take the set at 25-24. Florida responded once again as the Gators scored the final three points of the to grab the set, 27-25, and take a 2-0 lead into the break.
Pacific continued to battle as the two teams returned to the floor, however, the Gators fed off the energy of their home crowd, posting a .478 hitting percentage in the final set (14 kills and just one error on 23 attempts) to earn the sweep with a 25-18 victory.
Gibson led the Tigers with 11 kills in the match, while Engelhardt posted seven kills and four service aces. Florida's Kristy Jaeckel led all attackers with 12 kills.
The Tigers finished the match with a .141 hitting percentage (32 kills, 20 errors on 85 attempts), while the Gators hit .289 (38 kills, 14 errors on 83 attempts) for the match.
Following the tournament, Engelhardt was the lone Tiger named to the Florida / Aquafina Invitational All-Tournament Team.
Pacific returns to action on Friday, Sept. 5 as the Tigers begin play in the Asics Classic in Corvallis, Ore., against tournament host Oregon State at 7 p.m. in Gill Coliseum.
