Oct. 16, 2009
Box Score
Santa Barbara, Calif. - Playing their first five set match of the season, the Pacific women's volleyball team fell 3-2 to UC Santa Barbara on Friday, October 16, dropping a heartbreaker at the Thunderdome. The loss dropped the Tigers to 14-4 on the year and 4-3 in the conference while the Gauchos leap-frogged Pacific in the standings to move to 14-4 overall and 4-2 in the Big West.
Riding a three match winning streak including posting two big wins at home the previous weekend, the Tigers were unable to overcome the home court advantage of the Gauchos at the Thunderdome to keep their winning streak alive. Against a Gaucho squad undefeated at home in 2009, the Tigers fought tooth and nail for five sets, but in the end, UC Santa Barbara was able to put together just enough runs to hand the Tigers their third conference loss of the season.
Like they have done so 11 times throughout the year prior, the Tigers jumped out front of the Gauchos with a first set win, cruising out to a comfortable lead before fending off a late UCSB rally to capture the set. From the first serve, Pacific pounced on the Gauchos, running out to a 7-2 lead before forcing a UCSB timeout at 11-5. The six point lead for the Tigers would be its largest of the set, a total they match three more times midway in the set before the Gauchos would mount a comeback. Up 21-17, the Tigers would watch UCSB post four straight points to knot the set at 21-21. From there, the two teams would trade points until Pacific finally put away the Gauchos with back-to-back points after the final tie at 24-24.
In the set, senior Natalia Tomaszewska (Marklowice, Poland) paced the Tigers with five kills and just one error on eight swings. Defensively, the Tigers held the Gauchos to just .091 hitting as they posted 11 kills and eight errors on 33 attempts.
Despite taking the first set win, the Tigers saw the Gauchos take the momentum from the set as UCSB jumped on the Tigers early in the second set, taking control of the set and the match. After finding itself down 6-2 to start the set, Pacific settled itself and rebounded to tie the set at 10-10. With the set tied, UCSB put together a run of six straight points to distance itself from the Tigers and take a commanding 16-10 lead. The turning point for the Tigers in the set came at 12-10 when a controversial call went against Pacific's Olivia Riley (Agua Dulce, Calif.) who was called for a double hit on a set attempt after the Tigers thought she was interfered with by a Gaucho player over the net.
With the controversial call going against them, the Tigers were unable to rebound and refocus against the Gauchos who took advantage of the deflated Tigers to run away with the set. From 10-10 on, UCSB outscored the Tigers 15-5 to close the set. Rebecca Saraceno took control of the Gaucho offense in the set, tallying nine kills on 12 attempts with no errors. As a team, the Gaucho's posted a .444 hitting percentage in the set while the Tigers struggled with just a .159 percentage.
Unfortunately for the Tigers the third set was not much better as Pacific saw its hitting percentage dip even further in the match as the Tigers posted their worst single set hitting percentage of the season, hitting -.103 (6-9-29). For the second set in a row, the Tigers struggled to find their middles as Tomaszewska saw the ball just twice in the set, tallying one kill and one error in her two swings. Previously, Tomaszewska totaled just three attempts in the second set. With the middle of the court being controlled by the Gauchos, UCSB was able to continue its run on the outsides with Saraceno who again tagged the Tigers, this time for five kills on nine attacks with one error. The Gauchos were able to post a .321 hitting percentage in the set.
With their backs against the wall, the Tigers responded with the fight and energy that won them the opening set of the night. As they did in set one, the Tigers jumped out to a quick lead, posting a 6-1 lead that forced the Gauchos to call the first of their two timeouts. The timeout would only quell the storm for a few points, however, as Pacific broke open the set early behind the serve of senior Mallori Gibson (Bakersfield, Calif.), who put behind her a tough match up until that point to lead the Tigers on a 6-0 that pushed Pacific's lead to 15-6. During the run, the Tigers found Tomaszewska in the middle for a pair of kills as they found the offensive rhythm that had eluded them in the previous two sets.
Again, however, the Gauchos would not go down without a fight as the Tigers' nine point lead would be their largest of the set as UCSB clawed its way back into the set late, climbing to with in three points before Pacific finally put the set away at 25-21. Like she did in the first set, Tomaszewska led the Tiger attack with five kills as she took nine swings without an error. Additionally, Saraceno was forced into four errors and needed 19 swings in the set to amass her eight kills in the set.
In the fifth and decisive set, the match turned towards the Gauchos on just a few key points as they were able to take advantage of a pair of Tiger mistakes early in the set to take a three point lead that they would not relinquish throughout the set. After falling behind 6-3, the Tigers were not able to rally against the Gauchos were able to sideout at 89% in the set to keep a Pacific comeback at bay.
Overall, Tomaszewska posted one of her top performances of the season as she finished the night with 15 kills on 25 attacks with two errors (.520 hitting percentage). Additionally, she added two digs and two blocks on the night. Gibson was the lone other Tiger to reach double-figures in kills and she posted 11 on 38 attacks, but also tallied eight errors. Defensively, Gibson dug up seven attacks by the Gauchos while also posting three blocks. Senior Dancyne Kama (Hilo, Hawaii) tallied 20 digs for the Tigers from her libero position, combining with Tomaszewska in the fourth set to rally Pacific.
For the Gauchos, Saraceno led all attackers with 27 kills and eight errors on 57 attacks for a .33 hitting percentage. Stacy Schmidt added 14 kills as the only other UCSB attack to reach double digits. Saraceno also added 10 digs to finish the night with a double-double against the Tigers.
Pacific will be back in action on Saturday, October 17, to take on the Mustangs of Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif. The match is scheduled for 7:00 pm.
