Sept. 19, 2009

Box Score

Stockton, Calif. - Behind senior Mallori Gibson's (Bakersfield, Calif.) 15 kills on the night, the Pacific women's volleyball team claimed its third non-conference tournament with a 3-0 victory over Loyola Marymount during the Hilton Stockton Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 19. For her efforts, Gibson headlined the all-tournament team as the MVP of the Hilton Stockton Invitational.

Set scores for the match were: 25-15, 25-22 and 29-27.

With the victory, Pacific finished non-conference action with a 10-1 record, while Loyola Marymount dropped to 9-4 on the season.

Pacific started its quest for its third tournament championship of the season with a bang, jumping out to a 6-2 lead behind a pair of service aces from senior Gibson, the Tigers' most potent server in 2009. The quick lead forced an early timeout from the LMU bench, a timeout that would halt Pacific's advances momentarily and force the set into a back-and-forth battle. After seeing their lead drop to just one at 14-13, the Tigers mounted one of their signature mid-set rallies, a 6-2 run, to break open the set at 21-15. Senior Natalia Tomaszewska (Marklowice, Poland) spurred on Pacific's run at the net as she stuffed a Lion attack to make the set 17-14 and followed with a kill of her own to give the Tigers a four point lead.

With the first set in hand, the Tigers were comfortable trading points with the Lions, closing out the set with a kill from Gibson, her fifth of the set. The duo of Gibson and Tomaszewska combined for nine of the Tigers' 12 kills in the set as Pacific hit .360 to open the match.

Despite the quick start in set one, the Tigers found a very different Lion team in set two as Loyola Marymount proved to be up for the challenge as they attempted to square the match at one set a piece. From the first point of the set the Lions took control of the set, holding the Tigers' offense in check throughout the first half of the set. Prior to the media timeout the Lions held a lead of as big as three points, however, the Tigers closed back to within one at 15-14, and finally took their first lead of the set on a Gibson ace when the set was tied at 17-17.

After finally taking the lead, Pacific put the set away with a constant attack from the outsides, picking up kills from Gibson and junior Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany) to finish the set on a 5-2 run. Again, Gibson led the way for the Tigers with four kills in nine swings, finishing the set errorless to go along with her third service ace of the match.

Life would not get any easier for the Tigers in the third set despite starting out the set as they did in set one with a 6-3 lead out of the chute. However, a 7-1 run for the Lions put Pacific in their first hole of the set trailing 10-7. Again it was Gibson who stopped the bleeding for the Tigers, putting down a kill from the back row to stabilize the Tigers. Down 15-11, the Tigers used the media timeout to regroup and regain some of their lost momentum, running off three straight points out of the time out to climb back into the set.

With the race on to 25, the Tigers would not be denied their third championship of the season overcoming a set point by the Lions before putting away the set and the match on their fourth championship point of the extra time. Gibson posted six kills on 14 attempts in the set, but was one upped by her teammate on the outside as Engelhardt had her best set of the night posting eight kills and just one error on 11 swings.

For the match, Pacific was led by Engelhardt and Gibson as the duo each posted a team-best 15 kills. For Gibson, her effort in the championship match netted her tournament MVP honors after hitting .419 on then night to go along with three aces, five digs and three blocks. Pacific's middles proved to be a key to the success on the night with Tomaszewska tallying eight kills on 12 attacks with just one error while senior Masha Vaysburg (Livermore, Calif.) dropped in six kills with no errors on eight attempts. Tomaszewska added a match-high four blocks as the Tigers posted eight blocks on the night. For their play both Engelhardt and Tomaszewska earned all-tournament honors.

The Lions were led by all-tournament selection Alaina Bergsma who tallied a match-best 18 kills on 38 attempts with just three errors. Bergsma nearly led the Lions to the come-from-behind win in set three as she posted nine kills and no errors on 19 swings. Alesha Young, the Lion setter, also earned all-tournament honors as she led the Lions to a .272 hitting percentage to go along with 23 assists.

Pacific will be back in action on Thursday, September 24, as the Tigers open Big West Conference play with a road match against UC Davis. The match starts at 7:00 pm.