Nov. 6, 2009

Box Score

Long Beach State, Calif. - Facing off against Long Beach State on the road at the Walter Pyramid, the Pacific women's volleyball team suffered a four set loss to the 49ers on Friday, November 6. The loss dropped the Tigers to 16-8 overall and 6-6 in conference play while the 49ers improved to 15-6 overall and 8-3 in the Big West.

Set scores for the match were: 25-14, 21-25, 25-15, 25-22.

In their first of two final road games over the weekend, the Tigers could not come up with a winning formula against the 49ers as Long Beach State dealt Pacific the same four set loss the Tigers dealt the 49ers a month prior. Just as the Tigers had done in the previous meeting, the 49ers jumped out to a big, early lead on the Tigers and then held off Pacific's advances late to seal the victory.

To start the match, Long Beach State put Pacific in a hole in which they would not recover from with a solid attack at the net that kept the Tigers on their heels. For the entire set, the 49ers committed just two errors on their attack to post a match-high .448 hitting percentage. With a balanced attack from the 49ers saw three different players post four kills in the set with no errors to their name to stifle the Tigers' defensive efforts.

Down one set, the Tigers rebounded from a tough first set offensively behind the play of junior Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany) to rally for a win in the second set. With the team on her shoulders, Engelhardt posted an errorless effort in the set as she tallied five kills and no errors on 13 attacks. Pacific needed every play by the junior outside hitter to keep pace with Naomi Washington, Long Beach State's All-American middle blocker, who put behind her a two kill, two error set in the first set with an eight kill, two error set in the second frame.

With the battle between Engelhardt and Washington raging, the set would be come down to each teams' defensive play with the Tigers scoring the edge late in the set, led by senior Dancyne Kama (Hilo, Hawaii). Leading 21-20 late in the set, Kama delivered the defensive play that would prove to be the decisive play of the point and the set as she popped up a Washington attack just inches away from it touching down on the Tigers side to keep the point alive. With the ball on their side, sophomore Rebekah Torres (Wahiawa, Hawaii) put down the kill and secured the two point lead for the Tigers in the set from which they would secure the set victory.

Despite the sudden turn of events and the second set victory, the Tigers could not overcome the attack of Washington and the 49ers as Long Beach State came out of the media break looking to bury Pacific. Again, the Tiger attack stalled in the face of the 49er attack with Long Beach State putting Pacific away as the 49ers committed just three errors in the set compared to the Tigers' six. Additionally, three of the Tigers' errors came directly from the 49ers at the net as Long Beach State posted three of their 10.5 total team blocks in the set.

Trailing two sets to one, the Tigers battled back and forth with the 49ers in the fourth set, but in the end the Long Beach State attack again proved to be just too much for the Tigers to overcome and force a fifth set. Despite hitting a match-high .355 hitting percentage in the set themselves, the Tigers saw the 49ers post a .414 hitting percentage in the set to come away with the win. Again it was Washington who led the way for the 49ers as she posted six kills on six swings in the set. Pacific's counter to Washington again came from the outsides as Engelhardt again posted five kills while senior Mallori Gibson (Bakersfield, Calif.) came alive for the first time in the night to post five kills as well. But, the comeback was not to be for the Tigers as the 49ers rallied for four of the sets final five points to take the set and the match.

Overall, Engelhardt led the Tigers with 16 kills on 39 swings and just four errors for a .308 hitting percentage. She also added nine digs, one ace and one block on the night. No other Tiger reached double-digits in kills despite the play of freshman Pihanakealoha Kea (Honolulu, Hawaii) who finished her second start with 38 assists and nine digs.

For the 49ers, Washington posted a match-high 21 kills on 43 swings with just four errors while Caitlin Ledoux added 13 kills and six errors on 36 attacks. As a team, Long Beach State posted a .308 hitting percentage as the 49ers tallied 61 kills and 17 errors on 143 attempts.

Pacific will be back in action on Saturday, November 7 when the Tigers travel to Fullerton, Calif. to take on the Titans of Cal State