Sept. 4, 2009

Box Score

Stockton, Calif. - Playing at home for the first time in 2009, the Pacific women's volleyball team did not disappoint as they downed San Jose State, 3-0, on Friday, September 4, in the first day of the 31st Annual Community Bankers Classic. With the win the Tigers improved to 4-0 on the year while the Spartans fell to 0-4. Pacific's victory moved the Tigers into the tournament's championship match for the third straight season where they will take on No. 5 Florida.

Set scores for the match were: 25-19, 25-15, 25-19.

Out of the gate, the Tigers showed their home crowd what was in store from behind the service line as Pacific dropped in five service aces in the opening set alone, en route to a season-best 13 aces on the night.  Junior Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany) led the way for Pacific with three aces in the set, finishing with seven points in the first set after tallying three kills and a solo block to go with her aces.  Despite the strong showing behind the service line the Tigers did have their struggles to start the match as they hit just .192 at the net, posting nine kills and four errors on 26 swings.  However, with Pacific struggling to find its rhythm, San Jose State was unable to capitalize as it hit just .161 in the set with 10 kills and five errors in 31 swings.  Additionally, the Spartans compounded the Tigers service aces with six service errors to give Pacific 11 points from the service line in the set.

After starting the match with five aces in the first set, Pacific continued to tallying points behind the line with four more aces in the second set as seniors Mallori Gibson (Bakersfield, Calif.) and Natalia Tomaszewska (Marklowice, Poland) each served up two in the set.  For Gibson, her two service aces kicked off a six point run for the Tigers mid-set, snapping a 12-12 tie and pushing Pacific to a 19-12 lead in the set.  The Tigers would close out the set on a 13-3 run, handing them a 2-0 set lead at the match intermission.

Up comfortably at 2-0, the Tigers would close out the match in the third set with their best statistical performance of the night as Pacific would post a .243 hitting percentage after tallying 12 kills and just three errors on 37 swings.  Additionally, the Tigers added four more service aces to their match total in the final set with Engelhardt posting two more in the set to finish with a season-high five on the night.  The junior outside hitter would also put down six kills in the set as she finished the night as the only attacker to reach double-figures in kills after posting 11 in the match.

To go along with her 11 kills and five aces, Engelhardt also put up three blocks and finished the night with her second double-double of the season as she tallied 10 digs.  Defensively, Pacific posted 45 digs with Gibson leading the way with 11.  She also posted five kills, two aces and three blocks.  As a team the Tigers tallied 10.0 blocks for the contest with Tomaszewska leading all players with a season-high five.

For the Spartans, Taylor Japhet led the way offensively as she posted eight kills on 26 swings.  Defensively, Kristal Tsukano led the way with 12 digs while San Jose State tallied four total blocks on the night.

Earlier in the evening, No. 5 Florida rallied past No. 11 Stanford in five sets, coming back from a 2-1 deficiet to advance to the championship match.

Pacific and the Gators will face off for the tournament title at approximately 7:00 pm on Saturday, September 5.  Between games two and three of the championship match the Tigers will honor the 1999 Tigers who advanced to the Final Four.  Prior to the championship match, No. 11 Stanford and San Jose State will face off in the consolation match of the Community Bankers Classic.