April 11, 2009

Box Score

Honolulu, Hawaii- The Pacific men's volleyball team fell to No. 14 Hawaii on Friday, April 10, by a final score of 3-1. With the loss the Tigers dropped to 3-25 overall and 0-19 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). The Warriors improved to 7-17 on the season and 4-15 in the MPSF.

The set scores for the match were: 30-24, 25-30, 30-26 and 30-25

The Tigers scored the first three points of the opening set, including a kill from senior Jeff Hendershot (Claremont, Calif.) to take at 3-0 lead. Later in the set, with Pacific trailing 17-12, a three point rally, including two kills from junior Kevin Pratte (Hemet, Calif.) brought the score to 17-15. At 18-16, the Tigers scored four consecutive points to boost in front of the Warriors, 19-18. Hawaii answered back by scored four straight at 19-18, to retake the lead, 22-19. The Warriors took the set by a final score of 30-24.

With the score tied at 3-3 in the second set, a four point rally, which included a block by Pratte and one by freshman Eric Fuchino (Roseville, Calif.), gave the Tigers a 7-3 lead. With the score at 10-7, Pacific increased their lead to five, at 12-7. Freshman Sean Daley (Moorpark, Calif.) recorded a kill in this run. With the Tigers still ahead at 27-24, a kill from Hendershot and an error by Hawaii, brought Pacific within one of game point. Hendershot recorded another kill, to mark his eighth of the set, as the Tigers took the set by a score of 30-25. The Tigers outhit the Warriors in this set .536 to .333.

With 12 tie scores, the two teams remained very close throughout much of the third set. With the Tigers trailing at 12-9, a three point rally, with a kill from Hendershot, tied the score again at 12-12. Later in the set, tied at 20-20, the Warriors scored two straight points to make the score 22-20, a lead the Tigers would never be able to overcome. The Tigers would drop the set by a final score of 30-26.

In the fourth set, there was seven tie scores during the first 18 points. At 9-9, Hawaii scored two straight to take an 11-9 lead. Moments later with Tigers behind 14-10, two kills from Pratte brought Pacific within two at 14-12. Hawaii increased their lead, but the Tigers scored three straight at 17-13, to bring the score to 17-16. Unfortunately the Tigers would never get a substantial rally started to take a lead, and fell in the final set of the match 30-25, as the Warriors took the match 3-1.

Hendershot led the Tigers with 23 kills, while Daley and Pratte each had 12. Fuchino had 52 assists, while junior Mark Bauhs (Danvillle, Calif.) had 11 digs, taking him to No. 8 on Pacific's career digs leaders with 476 digs.

Hawaii was led by Steven Hunt, who had a match-high of 25 kills.

The Tigers will be back in action on Saturday at 10 p.m. to take on Hawaii for the finale of the two game match-up.