Spokane, Wash. - Keeping the big night for those in the orange and black, the Tigers came up with a comeback effort of their own on the road at Gonzaga as Pacific downed the Bulldogs in five on Thursday, Oct, 16. The win against the red-hot Bulldogs gave the Tigers (15-5) their 15th win of the year as they matched their win total from a season prior. Pacific's win snapped the Bulldogs (13-5) four-match win streak as both teams moved to 4-3 in the WCC standings.

Set scores for the match were: 18-25, 25-14, 23-25, 25-20, 15-12.

Early on in the opening set the two teams traded runs as they threw together three sets of 4-0 runs with Gonzaga bookending the fun to take a small advantage to start the match. After trading runs the two teams began to trade single points until a final run by the Zags put the set away. As Pacific's mistakes mounted late, Gonzaga was able to put together a 5-0 run that turned a close 18-16 contest into a commanding 23-16 lead. The Bulldogs would cash in a few points later on an overpass to capture the opening set victory. In the frame, the Tigers were outhit .314-to-.061.

Using its defense to spark the offense, Pacific got off to a fast start thanks to senior Gillian Howard who recorded three blocks in the Tigers' first seven points to get Pacific rolling. Her defense helped to reestablish the defense prowess Pacific had staked its early season successes on as the back line took care of any ball that got by the block. After seeing the Zags climb back into the set at 11-9, Pacific's offense took over behind the arm of sophomore Lexi Elman as the Tigers rolled off five-straight points including picking up three-consecutive kills from Elman during the run. Using the run to fuel their attack the rest of the way, the Tigers proceeded to run away with the set and even the match at 1-1. Elman finished the set with six kills as Pacific flipped the tables on the Bulldogs hitting .520 to Gonzaga's .074.

Just as they did before the break, the Tigers' block was nearly impenetrable early as they came up with five blocks as well as a handful of control blocks to double up the Bulldogs at 10-5. With the block squarely in place, the Zags began to second-guess their shots, rolling into Pacific's defense or hitting long for easy Tiger points. The easy points however would eventually dry up as Gonzaga fought its way back into the set behind Savannah Blinn who put down six kills to bring her team back. A problem that has haunted the Tigers throughout the season, Pacific got stuck in a rotation it could not fight out of as the Zags rallied all the way back from down as much as seven to take their first lead at 21-20. Gonzaga would not waste the work as they closed out the Tigers to steal the set and take the 2-1 advantage. 

Shaking off what could have been a crushing loss in set four, Pacific was relentless in the fourth set as the Tigers hung around and hung around until finally springing to life. The Tigers called upon their junior, Kat Schulz, to save the night as when the contest got tight it was Schulz who came up with the big swings Pacific desperately needed. Tied at 16-16 midway through the frame, Schulz put the Tigers on her back as the third-year opposite came up with three kills and a block to turn the tides of the contest and give Pacific a late lead it would not relinquish. 

In the race to 15 in set five it came down to who made the first move as Pacific used a 4-0 run to take control of the set, turning the heat up on the Bulldogs. The Tigers pushed their lead to four before Gonzaga attempted to rally by going back to Blinn. However, with every swing Blinn put down to pull a point closer, Elman was there for the Tigers to hold off the Zags as the sophomore dropped three of her six set kills to put the match away.

Overall, Elman led the way offensively with 19 kills on 52 swings while she added four aces and two blocks for 24.5 points. She tallied 11 digs defensively to finish off her team-best ninth double-double of the season and fourth of WCC play. Right behind Elman, Schulz produced 14 kills on .303 hitting to go along with eight digs and a career-best five blocks. In the middle, Howard had another stellar night as the senior picked up 11 kills and led the way with eight blocks. Her counterpart, sophomore Alicja Wilk chipped in seven blocks and eight kills while senior Katy Tagart added seven kills and three blocks in her first action on the left for the Tigers.

For the Bulldogs, Blinn continued her offensive assault as the WCC's top hitter as she produced 25 kills on .467 hitting. Jordan Gasser added 11 kills but also had 12 errors while McKayla Ferris came up with 10 kills to go along with six digs and four blocks.

As a team, the Tigers outhit the Bulldogs .244-to-.212 as Pacific came up with 16.0 team blocks.

The Tigers are back on the court on Saturday, Oct. 18 when they are in Portland, Ore. to take on the Pilots. The match is scheduled for 1:00 pm with live video provided by Portland.