Oct. 2, 2009

Box Score

Irvine, Calif. - Hitting the road for their first away match up against a top-25 opponent, the Pacific women's volleyball team's upset bid of No. 24 UC Irvine was not to be as the Tigers fell 3-1 to the Anteaters on Friday, October 2. The loss was the Tigers third of the season as they dropped to 11-3 on the year and 1-2 in conference play while the Anteaters improved to 12-3 overall and 2-1 in the Big West.

Set scores for the match were: 25-18, 25-23, 22-25, 25-11.

After coming into conference play with a perfect 6-0 record away from the Spanos Center, the Tigers entered the match against the Anteaters looking to get back on track after dropping their first road conference match in their first match of Big West play. However, UC Irvine entered the match looking to get back on track after suffering a five set loss at the hands of UC Santa Barbara a week prior, a loss which dropped the Anteaters three spots in the national polls.

With both teams playing to right the proverbial ship, the Anteaters took advantage of their home court to get off to a quick start against the Tigers, putting Pacific in an early hole it would not be able to climb out of. In the first set of the match, the Tigers fell behind 11-4 to start the match as the offensive rhythm that saw the Tigers' set a season-best hitting percentage in their previous match was not to be found as Pacific hit just .071 in the set. The Tigers would respond by rallying to bring the set to 13-11, however, a timeout by the UC Irvine bench would refocus the Anteaters on the court as they rallied with a 7-3 run to put the Tigers away and capture the opening set.

Struggling with their own offense, the Tigers were not able to shut down the attack of the Anteaters in the first set with UC Irvine posting a .333 hitting percentage in the first behind the combined attack of Kari Pestolesi and Juliane Piggott. The outside hitting duo combined for nine kills in the first set tallying just two errors on 23 attempts.

The quick start to set one would be mirrored for the Anteaters in set two as UC Irvine broke out to a 7-1 lead to start the second set before the Tigers could respond. However, Pacific would no go down with out a fight, rallying with a 6-2 run after a Tigers timeout to climb stop the set from slipping away. After posting four kills in the first set to lead the team, junior Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany) helped kick start the Tigers run as she posted two of her three kills in the 6-2 run by Pacific.

Back in the set, the Tigers finally took their first lead of the night at 19-18, pushing themselves over the hump on the fourth tie score of the set. The Tigers would push out to a 21-19 lead with the set squarely in their sites, however, the Anteaters would use a late rally off the serve of Pestolesi to steal the second set and with it the keys to the match.

Down two sets to none on the scoreboard, the Tigers were down, but not out of the match as Pacific rallied in the third set with their best offensive performance of the night to take the third set and get back into the match. In the third, the Tigers hit .351 from the net, posting 17 kills and just four errors on 37 swings while also posting four team blocks defensively against the Anteaters.

In a tight set that saw both teams grab small leads throughout, the Tigers were able to push out to leads as large as four points, amassing the advantage twice throughout the set only to see the Anteaters rally to close within one. A final push by the Tigers while leading 21-20 put the Anteaters away in the set and gave the Tigers an open door in which to walk through to get back into the match.

However, that door would be quickly shut by the Anteaters as they mounted an offensive assault in what would be the fourth and final set of the night, posting a .517 hitting percentage (17-2-29) while running out to a 9-1 lead and never looking back. The Anteaters would close the set out on the Tigers with a 25-11 victory, handing Pacific its worst set loss since dropping a 25-11 decision to No. 9 Washington in the first weeks of the 2008 season.

For the match, the Tigers hit just .139 as a team, tallying 46 kills and 26 errors on 144 attempts. Engelhardt led the Tigers with 13 kills but also committed seven errors on 38 swings to post a .158 hitting percentage. Sophomore Rebekah Torres (Wahiawa, Hawaii) tallied 10 kills on 32 attacks with five errors while the Tigers' middle blockers, seniors Natalia Tomaszewska (Marklowice, Poland) and Masha Vaysburg (Livermore, Calif.) combined for 17 kills. Tomaszewska added three blocks and a service ace to her match totals for the night.

The Anteaters were led by Piggott who finished the match with 18 kills and just five errors on 40 attempts. Pestolesi added 12 kills on 46 swings while Taryn Robertson tallied nine kills on 12 attempts from her setter position and Alexandra Hauser tallied seven kills on 12 attacks from the middle. As a team, UC Irvine posted a .287 hitting percentage on the night.

Pacific will be back in action on Saturday, October 3, when it travels to UC Riverside to take on the Highlanders. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm.