Sept. 24, 2009
Box Score
Davis, Calif. - Opening up Big West Conference play against their rival in the North, the Pacific women's volleyball team suffered its first road loss of the year, falling 3-1 to UC Davis on Thursday, September 24. The loss was the first for the Tigers in the last seven matches and just their second of the year as they fell to 10-2 on the season and 0-1 in conference action. The Aggies, with the win, improved to 10-5 overall and 1-0 in the Big West.
Looking to keep their road success rolling after winning their first six matches away from the Spanos Center in 2009, the Tigers struggled to find their rhythm and with it their success against UC Davis. What made the Tigers so successful in tournament play evaded them in Hickey Gym as they entered the night as the conference's best hitting and serving team, but finished the match with a .188 hitting percentage and just two aces.
The tone and the momentum of the match was set early on against the Tigers as the Aggies came out firing from the first serve of the match until the end of the set, hitting a match-high .455 in the opening set. Early on and throughout the match it was Allison Whitson who led Aggies attack as the freshman outside put down six kills on seven attempts with only one error. Whitson's constant attack put the Tigers on the defensive despite Pacific attacking at a .323 clip, their best percentage of the match.
After dropping the first set, the Tigers appeared as if they would play their way back into the match, turning the tables on the Aggies in the second set with their defense both at the net and in the back row. In the set, Pacific held the Aggies to just .071 hitting, forcing UC Davis into 10 errors on 42 swings while picking up a pair of blocks and posting 11 digs. For the Tigers it was senior Mallori Gibson (Bakersfield, Calif.) who did the most damage in the set posting six kills and four digs to lead Pacific in both categories.
Despite evening the match at one set a piece, the Tigers would not be able to pull out the comeback win as they had done previously throughout the season as the Aggies used the raucous crowd to fuel an attack that put Pacific in a hole it would not be able to climb out of. In set three, the Aggies used the Tigers strengths against them, outserving Pacific with three aces in the set while keying on the outside sets to post seven blocks. In the fourth, and what would be the final set, the Aggies went back to the formula that won them the opening set, feeding Whitson on the outside with nine attempts, six of which she put down for points.
For the match, Whitson led all attackers as she posted a match-high 19 kills while also adding four blocks. Kayla Varney and Melanie Adams added 10 kills each to the Aggies cause while Betsy Sedlak stifled the Tigers' attack with nine blocks on the night including three solo efforts. As a team the Aggies posted 16.0 team blocks while also out serving the Tigers, six aces to two.
Pacific was led by Gibson with 15 kills and junior Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany) who posted 12 kills. However, the duo struggled to find their flow at the net as each hit under .150 for the match. In the middle, the Tigers' senior middle blockers combined for 14 kills with Natalia Tomaszewska (Marklowice, Poland) and Masha Vaysburg (Livermore, Calif.) putting down six. In addition to the Tigers' struggles at the net, Pacific's serve failed to come around after a slow start as the team posted 14 service errors in the match.
The Tigers will be back in action on Saturday, September 26, when they host Cal State Northridge in the Big West Conference home opener at the Alex G. Spanos Center. The match is scheduled for 7:00 pm.
