Aug. 25, 2010
Complete Weekly Release
Pacific Tiger Volleyball Last Week:
Pacific Tiger Volleyball This Week:
Friday, Aug. 27 - vs (23) LSU, 10:00 am PST
Friday, Aug. 27 - at Texas A&M, 4:00 pm PST
Saturday, Aug. 28 - vs. Siena, 8:00 am PST
Pacific Opens Its 2010 Campaign In College Station, Texas:
For the first times since the conclusion of the 2009 season, the Pacific volleyball team will hit the floor against outside opponents as the Tigers head to College Station, Texas to take part in the Texas A&M Invitational. The Tigers face a tough early schedule as they face off against two teams inside of the preseason AVCA poll in LSU, who ranks in at No. 23, and the host Aggies, who are receiving votes in the early poll and sit just outside of the top-25. In addition to the two ranked teams, Pacific's bout with Siena will not be a break in the schedule as the Saints are a four-time MAAC championship winner (2005-08) and posted a 15-13 record last season.
Gibbons Named Pacific Newest Head Coach:
Greg Gibbons was named the seventh head coach of the Pacific women's volleyball program on January 28, 2010. Gibbons has spent the last four seasons at UC Santa Barbara, including the last two as associate head coach. He was the primary recruiter for the Gauchos, and was involved in all facets of running the program.
"We are very pleased to have someone with Greg's vision and talent to lead our program," said King. "He is a tireless recruiter who is excellent at training student-athletes and has the ability to bring out their competitive nature. I look forward to working with him."
"I want to thank Athletics Director Lynn King for the honor and privilege to lead University of the Pacific's Women's volleyball program," said Gibbons. "Pacific Volleyball has a rich history and strong athletic tradition that includes two National Titles, and I look forward to getting the program back to the top of the Big West Conference and into the NCAA Championships. I am also very impressed with the beauty of the campus and the academics standards for our student-athletes. This is a great place for my family and I look forward to our future together with the Pacific Tiger's Women's Volleyball Team. I am very excited and anxious to hit the ground running."
With extensive experience at the collegiate, club, and USA Volleyball levels, Gibbons will bring an outstanding coaching background to the Tiger program.
In two of his four years at UC Santa Barbara, Gibbons helped lead the program to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and 66 victories. The Gauchos were 19-12 in his first season and a 22 win season in 2009. In his time at UCSB, he coached two All-Americans, three All-Region players, 10 All-Big West players and six All-Freshmen players.
Gibbons went 41-29 as the head coach at Cal Lutheran University from 2003-05, leading the Regales to an 18-3 mark, a conference championship and a final NCAA Division III national ranking of No. 18 his final season. He guided CLU to the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title in 2005 while mentoring a First Team AVCA All-American, Mo Coverdale. In 2004, Cal Lutheran finished with a West Region ranking of 7th and was ranked as high as No. 25 in the national poll.
In 2008, Gibbons took over the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club as director and head coach. In 2009 Gibbons took the SBVC to the bronze medal at the Junior Olympics and a No. 3 national ranking. Prior to his time in Santa Barbara, Gibbons emerged as an outstanding club coach. He was the co-director and coach of the Los Angeles-based Sports Shack Volleyball Club from 2004-07. In the 2005 season he was named Club Coach of the Year while leading the under-15 team to a fifth-place finish at Nationals while his under-18 team won the Volleyball Festival National Championship. In 2006, his under-16 team captured the regional title.
From 2004-06 Gibbons also served as head coach of the Southern California Volleyball Association Youth National Team based in Anaheim, coaching the region's top girls players that placed third at the Global World Championships in Salt Lake City in 2005.
In addition, Gibbons was Coordinator of Volleyball Affairs with the Pepperdine University men's program from 2003-05, analyzing game film and handling administrative responsibilities for the perennially-powerful Waves. In his time in Malibu (2003-06) Gibbons was part of a program that won a national title (2005), was the national title runner-up (2003) and also played in a Final Four (2004).
Previously, Gibbons served as head boys and girls volleyball coach at both Westlake High School (2000-03) and was the head boys coach at Moorpark High School (1997-99) while also gaining experience with several Ventura County-based club programs.
Gibbons is a 1997 graduate of Iowa State University where he earned a B.S. in psychology and in 2009 earned his Master's degree in adult education from the University of Phoenix. At Iowa State he played on the Cyclones' nationally ranked club volleyball team, ranking as high as third in 1997.
He married Emily Cochran in December of 2005 and the two have a son, Max.
No Breaks In Store For Pacific In 2010:
Starting anew under head coach Greg Gibbons, the Tigers have put together a daunting schedule for the 2010 season as Pacific will test itself against some of the top competition in the country. Heading into the year, the Tigers are slated to take on 10 teams inside of, either in the top-25 or receiving votes, the preseason AVCA Coaches Poll. Right out of the gate Pacific will take on a pair of teams in the poll as they begin their 2010 season with matches against No. 23 LSU and (RV) Texas A&M at the Texas A&M Invitational. A week later, Pacific takes on (RV) Santa Clara at the 32nd Annual Bankers Classic. The duo will be joined by Idaho at the Stockton tournament. Heading to Reno, Nevada, Pacific will face No. 18 Arizona in the first match of the tournament hosted by Nevada. The Tigers will close out tournament play with tilts against (RV) Utah and No. 12 Michigan at Arizona State's tournament in Tempe, Ariz.
After the gauntlet of tournament play Pacific will jump right into the fire of Big West play where they will see three teams receiving votes in the poll as Long Beach State, the conference preseason favorite, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine represent the conference in the poll. To end the regular season the Tigers will take on No. 25 Saint Mary's in Moraga, Calif. as the fourth and final game of a four game road trip.
Pacific Picked Seventh By The Coaches:
Entering a new era in Pacific women's volleyball, the Tigers were picked to finish in seventh place in the Big West in 2010 as voted on by the coaches. Under new head coach Greg Gibbons, the Tigers will be chasing Long Beach State for the conference title, which was selected first by the coaches for the third consecutive season.
As a team, the Tigers finished 2009 sixth in the Big West at 7-9 in conference play while finishing 17-11 overall on the year. Pacific will be lead into the new season by First Team All-Big West honoree Svenja Engelhardt who returns for her final season as the Tigers' top ranked returner.
Tiger Record Watch:
Coming into the season, senior Svenja Engelhardt is within reach of Pacific's all-time record for service aces in a career as she currently sits in a tie at No. 4 on the career aces list. Entering the 2010 season, Engelhardt has posted 145 aces averaging 0.53 aces per game (currently the highest career average in program history). The Tigers' all-time record sits at 182, a mark set by Vikki Simonis throughout 1989-92. Engelhardt is tied with No. 4 Julie Maginot (1982-85) who also finished her career with 145 aces. Engelhardt needs four more aces to reach the next rung on the ladder to the program's top spot as Charlotte Johansson (1991-94) is No. 3 having finished with 149 aces. She needs 37 aces to tie Pacific's all-time mark, a number she has surpassed in all three of her previous seasons.
Engelhardt Leads A Young Group Of Tigers Into 2010:
In 2009 Svenja collected All-Big West First Team honors after receiving honorable mention honors in 2007 and 2008. She continued to dominate in service aces in 2009, tying for third in the Big West with a .36 average. In addition, Engelhardt paced the Tigers and finished seventh in the league with a 3.38 kill average. She also added 217 digs and 44 blocks to her 2009 totals.
Alongside of Svenja is junior Rebekah Torres who returns as the only other player on the Tigers' roster to see substantial time in a Pacific uniform in 2009. Torres played in all 107 Pacific sets last year and recorded a .179 hitting percentage. Her 2.60 kills per set ranked third on the Tigers' squad while she also finished third on the squad with 28 service aces and 227 digs. For the year, Pacific has just three upperclassmen as the duo of Engelhardt and Torres are joined by Sam Misa who comes to Pacific out of the College of Southern Idaho.
Pacific's Newcomers To Play A Big Part In 2010:
For the 2010 season, Pacific will go into play with seven new faces including four freshmen and three transfers. Looking to make an immediate impact, the freshmen will see substantial time on the floor especially Jennifer Sanders who is slated for a starting spot as a middle blocker. On the outsides, Siga Appelgate and Megan Birch are vying for a starting spot while Taeler Davis will see time alongside of sophomore transfer Hannah Clancy. Clancy comes to Pacific from Dayton after leading the Flyers to the Atlantic 10 championship and an appearance in the NCAA tournament after posting an impressive 30-4 overall record and a nearly perfect conference record of 14-1. Koala Matsuoka joins the Tigers from George Mason while Sam Misa will start on the outside for the Tigers after transferring from the College of Southern Idaho.
Hard To Sweep Away:
The Tigers were only swept twice all season in 2009, and were 9-2 in three-set matches on the year. The Tigers have not been swept in 41 of their last 45 matches. With Pacific being its strongest at the beginning of matches, the opposite was the case at the end of matches as the Tigers were just 1-5 in five-set matches last year. The Tigers were 7-4 in four-set matches.
