Stockton, Calif. - Finishing off the first half of the WCC schedule, the Tigers came up with one of their most balanced efforts of the season as Pacific swept away San Francisco, 3-0, on Thursday, Oct. 23. The win moved the Tigers to 17-5 on the year and 6-3 in conference play while the Dons fell to 11-10 and 4-5 in WCC action.

Set scores for the match were: 25-18, 29-27, 25-21.

Spreading the ball out on offense and keeping the floor clean on defense, the Tigers inched ever closer to the elusive 20-win mark as they took down the Dons for the second-straight year at the Spanos Center. Working outside in, Pacific came up with 50 kills on .283 hitting (50-16-120) while holding the Dons to just 34 kills on .124 hitting (34-19-121), 82 points lower than their season average coming into the match.

Waking up when punched in the mouth, the Tigers responded to an 8-0 USF run and a 10-4 Don lead in the first set by ratcheting up their defensive effort to fight their way back into the set and eventually overtake the Dons. Rotating into the front, senior Katy Tagart spurred the Tigers run back into the set as the newly anointed outside came up with a pair of kills and a block as Pacific erased the six-point hole to even the set at 14-14. With new life, sophomore Lexi Elman went on a scoring binge as she netted four of her five kills in the set in a span of seven points to give the Tigers a 22-17 lead. With the set in hand, senior Gillian Howard finished the Dons off from the middle with a pair of kills to end the comeback as she bookended the frame for Pacific to finish with five kills alongside of Elman.

Up one, the Tigers found themselves in a fight in set two as both team battled for control. Needing extra points to decide a victor, the Tigers finally hit pay dirt on their fifth set-point of the match when sophomore Alicja Wilk followed a service error by the Dons with her first of two service aces on the night. Wilk's game winner was made possible after the Tigers stayed on the right side of a back-and-forth exchange of points that began with the Tigers leading 23-22 late. For every kill Pacific put down, the Dons had an answer until taking the ball out of their hands with the service error. As junior Kat Schulz shook off a slow first set to produce seven kills on 14 swings in the second set she was balanced by the attack of Valentina Zaloznik and Sara Staengle who each tallied five kills. In the end, the Tigers had too many options to choose from en route to the 2-0 lead.

With a sweep within reach, the Tigers took a quick lead and never let go as the Dons never led in the third and final set. USF was able to even the score twice in the frame, but each time, Pacific pushed foward until breaking away for the win. Tied at 14-14 midway through the set, the Tigers again went to the Tagart well as the senior sparked Pacific's final run with four kills on just five attacks. The Tigers would close out the match up the middle as Howard dumped a kill off the hands of USF's block to end the night.

Offensively, Elman led the way with 12 kills on 41 swings while Howard and Schulz each finished with 11 kills. Howard was supremely efficient as she hit .474 for the match while adding four blocks. For Schulz, her defense was at its best against the USF attack as she came up with a team-best 15 digs to post her seventh double-double of the year. Tagart ended her night with eight kills on 15 swings while Wilk came up with five kills and five blocks to go along with a pair of aces and six digs. Junior setter Kimmy Whitson followed Wilk's lead with five blocks of her own as Pacific came up with 9.0 total blocks on the night.

The Dons were led by Zaloznik who finished the night with 12 kills on .414 hitting while tallying a match-best six blocks. However, the Tigers were able to hold the rest of USF's attackers under 10 kills as Staengle finished second with nine kills on 25 attacks.

Pacific will begin its second half of the WCC schedule on Saturday, Oct. 25 with a match against Santa Clara at 12:00 pm. The Tigers are seeking revenge for a 3-0 loss to the Broncos earlier in the year as Santa Clara handed Pacific its first loss in conference play. In addition, the Tigers will play its annual Pacific Plays Pink contest in support of breast health awareness.