Stockton, Calif. - Playing their lone match of the weekend, the Tigers started a new streak in the record books as Pacific downed Saint Mary's, 3-0, at the Alex G. Spanos Center on Saturday, Oct. 4. The win pushed the Tigers' record to 14-3 overall and 3-1 in the WCC while the Gaels fell to 4-10 and 0-4 in conference play.

Set scores for the match were: 25-23, 25-23, 25-11.

With nothing seemingly going right early on Saturday afternoon, the Tigers refused to drop a set to the visiting Gaels as Pacific was able to clamp down when it mattered most to come up with the victory. Bolstered by the play of their junior setter Kimmy Whitson, the Tigers were able to rally in back-to-back sets to steal victory from the jaws of defeat before blasting Saint Mary's in the third and final set of the day.

Whitson took full control of the reins of the Tigers late in set one as Pacific switched out of its typical two-setter rotation and went strictly with its veteran junior to settle a team that seemed to be spiraling out of control. Down by as much as six in the opening set and trailing 21-17 late, the Tigers' seemed to be out of the first set until the defense came to the rescue of a sputtering offense. Down by four with just a few points to go, the Tigers were able to claw their way back into the opening set thanks to three big blocks set up by junior Kat Schulz alongside of Pacific's middles. Closing to within two at 23-21, The Tigers came up with four straight points to close out the comeback efforts as Whitson found her sophomore on the outside, Lexi Elman, for two of Elman's four kills in the frame, including the set-ending strike. Pacific's first lead of the opening set was not until pushing ahead 24-23 on an unforced error by the Gaels' attack.

Leading one set to none after stealing the opening win, the Tigers again struggled to get their offense going against the Gaels as Saint Mary's came up with seven blocks in the set to control the net. However, just as they did in the opener, Pacific held close as the two teams traded points and leads throughout the frame. Pacific was able to keep the floor relatively clean in the set as the Tigers came up with 24 digs as Whitson and freshman libero Katrin Gotterba each tallied six while Schulz came up with five. After trailing by two at 20-18, the Tigers were able to get on the right side of the back-and-forth battle with a small 4-1 run as Whitson spread out the attack to slow the Gael block. In the end, it was Elman who again came up with the big swing and the big block as she gave the Tigers set point with her fifth kill of the set while ending the frame with a block alongside of senior  Gillian Howard.

Having played with fire twice to start the match, Pacific put the flames out in the third set with fire of their own as the Tigers came out of the locker room a different team en route to a runaway victory. After misplacing their offense for the five sets prior, dating back to Tuesday's match, the Tigers found the spark they had been missing as they put together a flawless attack to hit .607 (17-0-28). Coming up with six kills on just seven attacks, Schulz turned around an uncharacteristically poor offensive showing to put the Gaels away including tallying the final two points for the Tigers on sets from Whitson.

Despite the rough offensive day for Schulz, the junior did not let it affect her defense as she grabbed 13 digs and three blocks while ending the afternoon with 10 kills to post her fifth double-double of the season. Elman ended her match with a contest-best 13 kills on .345 hitting while adding six digs and five blocks. Just behind the duo of pin hitters, Howard finished with nine kills while posting six of the Tigers' 11 team blocks.

For Whitson, her day ended with her first double-double of the 2014 season as she recorded 28 assists to go along with 13 digs. She also finished with five kills and three blocks. Alongside of Whitson and Schulz in the back, Gotterba tallied 10 digs while junior defensive specialist Mia Feiner added nine.

On the other side of the net, the Gaels were led by Samantha Tinsley who posted 10 kills, half of which came in the opening set. As a team, the Gaels hit just .092 (32-21-120) while Pacific was able to push its hitting to .229 (43-16-118) despite 11.0 team blocks by Saint Mary's.

The win for the Tigers was their first over the Gaels as WCC rivals.

Pacific is back in action on Thursday, Oct. 10 when the Tigers host No. 10 BYU at the Alex G. Spanos Center in a battle at the top of the WCC standings. The match is scheduled for 7:00 pm/