Jan. 9, 2009

Box Score

Santa Barbara, Calif. - The Pacific men's volleyball team dropped its first match of the season to UC Santa Barbara, 3-1, in the first round of the UC Santa Barbara / Elephant Bar Tournament on Friday, Jan. 9.

This loss put the Tigers at 1-1 on the season, while the Gauchos moved to 1-0 overall.

The scores for the match were: 29-31, 30-28, 31-29 and 30-25.

In the first set UC Santa Barbara scored the first point to briefly take the lead, on a Pacific service error. Freshman Sean Daley (Moorpark, Calif.) responded by recording his first of seven kills in the match to tie it up for Pacific. After the score was tied at 2-2, the Gauchos scored three consecutive points to gain a slight advantage over the Tigers. Pacific was able to tie the game back up at 13-13, with a service ace by junior Kevin Pratte (Hemet, Calif.).

From there the two teams tied three more times, until UC Santa Barbara pulled away from a 16-16 score, by tallying four consecutive points. Following a sideout, the Tigers were able to score two points with junior Jason Borchin (Roseville, Calif.) at the service line to narrow the deficit to 20-19. Trailing 28-25 moments later, Pacific turned around and scored four straight points with a kill from Borchin and Daley, followed by two errors from UC Santa Barbara, to gain a slight lead of 29-28. After the Gauchos knotted things up at 29-29, Borchin gave the Tigers their second set point via a kill from the outside. The ensuing play, senior Jeff Hendershot (Claremont, Calif.) and Daley combined to stuff UC Santa Barbara's Trey Valbuena, giving the Tigers a 31-29 victory.

Pacific scored the first point of the second set on a kill from Daley. The teams battled back and forth through 12 tie scores. The Tigers were leading 8-7, and increased it to 12-7, by forcing the Gauchos into four consecutive errors. UC Santa Barbara quickly answered back by scoring five points to tie the score at 12-12. The score continued to go back and forth, until Pacific committed a service error to give UCSB the 29-28 lead and edge they would need to win the set by a score of 30-28.

The Tigers trailed for most of the third set, until a service ace by freshman Dylan Walker (La Canada, Calif.) tied the game at 20-20. A kill from Hendershot gave Pacific its first lead of the set at 21-20. The Tigers and the Gauchos fought through four more ties during the rest of the game. With the score at 29-27, a possible game point for the Gauchos, UC Santa Barbara committed a service error to keep Pacific alive. Hendershot followed with one of his 10 kills to tie the game at 29-29. UC Santa Barbara, however, notched the final two points of the set with a kill and an ace to win their second set, 31-29.

The Gauchos gained an early lead of 9-6 behind four consecutive points. The Tigers fought to keep the score tight and with a kill by senior Joe Forbes (Westport, Conn.), the score became 13-12, and they were only trailing by one. UC Santa Barbara refused to succomb to the Tigers, despite Pacific's last minute efforts. The Tigers scored two points to pull the score to 29-25. UC Santa Barbara recorded the last point to win the set and ultimately the match.

Borchin led the Tigers with 12 kills, while Hendershot had 10 kills, and nine digs.

Jeff Menzel recorded 21 kills for the Gauchos, leading them to their victory.

Pacific's next game is tonight at 7 p.m. as the Tigers continue play in the UC Santa Barbara / Elephant Bar Tournament against UCLA.