Feb. 19, 2010

Box Score

Los Angeles, Calif. - The men's volleyball team dropped a five game contest to No. 3 USC, by a score of 3-2. With the loss the Tigers fell to 6-11 and 0-11 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), while the Trojans improved to 8-4 and 6-3 in the MPSF.

The game score for the match were 25-30, 25-30, 30-23, 32-30, and 15-7.

With the Tigers trailing 2-1 in the first game, a three point run, including a kill from freshman Nikola Vukicevic (Belgrade, Serbia) and sophomore Sean Daley (Moorpark, Calif.) put Pacific out in front 4-2. Pacific edged out to 12-9, but the Trojans closed the gap with three straight to knot the game at 12. The Tigers scored two at 21-19, including a kill from sophomore Florian Gornik (Schwechat, Austria) to push ahead by four at 23-19. Two more point for Pacific at 26-23, put them two away from taking the game at 28-23. The Tigers finished off the game with a block by Vukicevic and freshman Taylor Hughes (Fallbrook, Calif.), followed by a kill from Gornik, taking the game 30-25.

The Trojans were out in front 5-4 in the second game, when the Tigers rallied three to take a 7-5 lead. A kill from Vukicevic and two blocks joining Daley and Hughes boosted the run. Up by one at 16-15, Pacific registered three straight, with a kill from senior Jason Borchin (Roseville, Calif.), a service ace from senior Kevin Downing (Poipu, Hawaii), and a block from Hughes and Vukicevic, taking the score to 19-15. At 20-17, Vukicevic contributed the next two points for the Tigers with a kill followed by an ace, jumping Pacific to a five point lead at 22-17. The Tigers would not let USC get a rally started and at 29-25, Daley and Hughes combined for a block for the game, 30-25.

Even at 8-8 in the third game, the Trojans rallied three to take an 11-8 lead over Pacific. Still leading at 15-11, USC pushed ahead with a four point run, making the score 19-11. At 20-12, Pacific scored three straight with two kills from Borchin, and a service ace by sophomore Dylan Walker (La Canada, Calif.) to slightly close the gap to 20-15. Trailing 21-17, the Tigers posted two points, taking the score to 21-19. The Trojans answered back with a three point run to take a 24-19 lead. At 26-22, USC brought themselves within game point at 29-22, with three straight points. A kill from Gornik marked the last Pacific point of the game, as the Trojans took the game, 30-23.

The two teams battled through six tie scores in the first 16 points of the game. At 8-8, a kill from Vukicevic and Gornik constituted a two point run for the Tigers, taking the score to 10-8. Four straight for the Trojans put them in front, 12-10. Later in the game with the Tigers trailing 22-17, Hughes racked two kills to take the score to 22-19. After a quick sideout for the Trojans, Pacific posted two more points with another back-to-back kills from Hughes, making the score 23-21. Pacific evened the score at 26-26 with two straight points from kills by Daley and Borchin. With the Tigers down 29-26, Pacific again knotted the game at 29-29 with a three point run, including a kill from Borchin and a block by Hughes and Vukicevic. The Trojans took the next point, but a USC error put the ball back on Pacific's side at 30-30. The Tigers could not get a rally started and USC scored the final two points of the game. With the 33-30 win in the fourth game, the Trojans forced a fifth and final set.

In a game that only goes to 15, a quick 3-0 lead for USC was costly for the Tigers. At 6-3, the Trojans pushed out to a 9-3 lead, with three straight points. Trailing 12-6, Vukicevic racked a kill to record the finals point for the Tigers in the game. The Trojans would close out the game 15-7, and the match 3-2.

Bauhs posted a match-high of 23 digs, earning a spot in Pacific record books, with the second-most digs in a single match in the history of the program. Hughes registered 26 kills for the Tigers.

USC was led by Murphy Troy, who recorded 26 kills.

The Tigers will be back in action on Friday, February 26 to take on Stanford at 7:00pm in the Alex G. Spanos Center.