Oct. 3, 2009

Box Score

Riverside, Calif. - Playing their second road game in as many days, the Pacific women's volleyball team earned their first conference road win of the season with a 3-0 sweep of UC Riverside on Saturday, October 3. The win moved the Tigers to 2-2 in conference play and 12-3 overall while the Highlanders fell to 0-4 in the Big West and 1-12 on the year.

Pacific victory was its 17th straight against the Highlanders while also earning the Tigers their 12th win of the year, equaling their win total from a season ago.

Set scores for the match were: 25-22, 25-21, 25-22.

A day after suffering a tough loss to the No. 24 ranked UC Irvine Anteaters, the Tigers rebounded with an impressive showing on the road against the Highlanders. However, the Tigers would have to fight for every point against UC Riverside as Pacific was pushed late in each of the three sets before pulling away for the victory.

In the opening set the Tigers got off on the right foot, finding their outside attack that eluded them the previous night. With 16 kills in the set, the Tigers posted 13 from the outside with sophomore Rebekah Torres (Wahiawa, Hawaii) posting a set-high five kills. However, even more impressively, senior Mallori Gibson (Bakersfield, Calif.) shook off a rough outing the previous night with a big start to the night posting four kills and just one error on eight swings to keep the Tiger attack flowing.

With the outsides finding their rhythm, the Tigers were able to jump out to a 10-6 lead early in the set and held a lead as large as seven at 19-12 before the Highlanders rallied back into the set using a 4-0 run behind the serve of Shelby LeDuff to claw their way with in three of the Tigers. They would close the deficit to just a single point at 23-22 before junior Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany), who had four kills in the set, and Torres put the set away at the net with a pair of kills.

Continuing to run with the momentum from the first set victory, the Tigers jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set, grabbing a four point lead that would hold throughout much of the set until the Highlanders mounted yet another rally on the Tigers midway through the second set. After seeing their lead cut to one at 17-16, the Tigers ran off four straight points to break open up the set, starting with a kill by senior Natalia Tomaszewska (Marklowice, Poland) who then served three straight points to give the Tigers their five point lead.

Up five, Pacific would cruise to the finish of the set to put the Highlanders in a two sets to none hole. Gibson continued her strong start with a flawless performance in the second set posting four kills on nine attempts with no errors. With Gibson putting pressure on the Highlanders' defense on the outsides, Tomaszewska found an opening to exploit in the center of the net, tallying three kills on five swings with no errors in the set.

After capturing the first two sets, Pacific looked to close out the Highlanders with the sweep in the third, but found themselves locked in a battle with UC Riverside which refused to go down quietly. For the first time in the match, the Tigers found themselves down to the Highlanders in the third set early, trading points and leads with UC Riverside through the first 20 points of the set. Tied at 10-10, the Tigers broke open the third, and what would be final set, mounting a 6-1 run that would put the Highlanders down five midway though the set. With the Highlanders keying on Gibson early, Torres picked up the slack for Pacific, picking up two of her four kills in the set during the run.

Despite holding a five point lead, the Tigers would see the Highlanders again mount a late rally to get back into the set with UC Riverside closing the gap to just one point at 23-22. Just as they did in set one, the Tigers closed the set and the match with the final two points in the third, capping the match defensively at the net as Torres posted a solo block on Bianca Endersby for the final point.

Overall, the Tigers posted a .276 hitting percentage tallying 42 kills and 15 errors on 98 attempts. Individually, Torres and Engelhardt posted identical lines in the box score with each posting 10 kills and six error on 25 attempts. The duo also combined for 11 digs and two service aces in the match. Gibson finished the match with just two errors on 22 swings while tallying nine kills for a .318 hitting percentage. In the middle, Tomaszewska was nearly perfect tallying eight kills on 13 attacks with no errors.

For the Highlanders, LeDuff led the way with six kills on 13 swings with three errors while three other Highlander attackers posted five kills in the match. As a team, UC Riverside hit just .098, posting 28 kills and 20 errors on 82 attempts.

The Tigers will be back in action on Friday, October 9, as they host Cal State Fullerton at the Alex G. Spanos Center. The match is scheduled for 7:00 pm.