Los Angeles, Calif. - In a battle of two completely even powers, the Tigers prevailed for the second time over Loyola Marymount in five-sets as Pacific won a thriller to take sole possession of second place in the WCC. The win for the Tigers moved them to 23-7 on the year and 12-5 in the WCC while the Lions fell to 23-6 and 11-6 in conference action. 

Set scores for the match were: 25-17, 18-25, 25-16, 19-25, 15-9.

In a battle of wills between two of the top teams in the WCC, the Tigers came out on top as Pacific established a dominant block that came up with a season-best 19.0 blocks against the Lions. The Tigers' 19.0 team blocks was the most in a single match since blocking Portland State 21 times on Sept. 8, 2007. The defensive showcase bolstered a relentless attack as the two teams traded shots across the bow with the match coming down to who could strike last. 

Flying out of the gate in a full sprint, the Tigers put the Lions in a deep hole to begin the match en route to an easy opening win. Senior Gillian Howard was unstoppable early in her first rotation through the front row as the fourth-year middle came up with five kills on six attempts and blocked four balls to give Pacific a 12-4 lead. The big run was a 7-0 rally by the Tigers in the first 10 points that was bolstered by the block of Howard alongside of sophomore Lexi Elman. From there, Pacific allowed the Lions to close only to within six points on a handful of occasions before finishing off the set three of the final four points, including a block and a kill from junior Kat Schulz.

After a sharp first set, Pacific found itself playing uncharacteristically sloppy to begin the second frame as the Lions took advantage of the mistakes to put the ball down and put the Tigers in chase mode. Down, 13-10, the Tigers let the set slip away with a pair of unforced errors that made it a five-point Lion lead. Gaining confidence with every swing, the Lions never let the Tigers get any closer than four points as LMU hit .343 in the set to even the match at 1-1. 

Putting the team on her back, Howard went off to start set three as the big senior came up with four kills and a block before rotating out with the Tigers up 8-4. Pacific would hold its advantage thanks to Schulz and senior Katy Tagart who kept the Lions from making a run with Howard off the court. The duo came up with two kills a piece as Pacific held its advantage to 12-8. With the offense humming, Pacific pulled away for another dominating win as the pendulum swung back the way of the Tigers. In the set, the Tigers would outhit the Lions .367-to-.025 as Howard went 6-0-8 to lead the attack.

Flipping sides of the court once again, the pendulum again swung early as the Lions took back control of the match. Again, looking like the complete inverse of the previous set, the Tigers fell behind big early at 12-6 as LMU went on a 5-0 run. Just as they had done in the second set, the Tigers' own unforced mistakes gave the Lions the opportunity to run away with the set as LMU's offense held the Tigers at bay long enough to hold on for the match-evening victory.

As was the theme throughout the day, the proverbial pendulum would sing back in the Tigers' favor in the final set of the match as Pacific jumped on the Lions early and never looked back. Using a 4-0 run after giving up the first point of the set, the Tigers built a lead that their defense would not give back. Fittingly, the Tigers came up with a block from Tagart and sophomore Alicja Wilk to end the match.

On the day, the match was dominated by Howard in the middle as the senior had her finest all-around performance in her four-year career. Controlling the middle, Howard produced a match-best 18 kills on .533 hitting (18-2-30) while pacing the Tigers' block with nine. Howard would not make an offensive mistake until the fourth set on her 22nd attack as she missed an easy dunk on an overpass that snapped her perfect night.

Right behind the veteran middle was the Tigers' other upperclassmen as Tagart and Schulz each produced 12 kills. Schulz finished with her 13th double-double as she added a team-best 13 digs to go along with her attacking. In addition, the junior posted a career-best six blocks on the day while Tagart finished the match with four. Wilk would finish the match with eight blocks to make her presence felt despite an off offensive afternoon. Elman tied her career best mark of five blocks in the match as she added nine kills and nine digs to the Tigers' totals.  

When something did get by the block, the defensive back line was there to pick it up as junior Mia Feiner and freshman Katrin Gotterba each picked up 10 digs. In the third set and with her fourth dig of the match, Gotterba passed Elman for the freshman single-season digs record, which stood at 429, as she posted her 430th of the season. She ended the match with 436 on the year.

On the other side of the net, Caitlin DeWitt led the Lion attack as the standout outside produced 14 kills on 42 swings. Behind DeWitt, Litara Keil added 13 kills while Rachelle Suaava posted 10. Suave was all over the court as she came up with nine digs and a team-best six blocks. As a team, the Lions had nine blocks to go along with 67 digs as Sarah Sponcil posted a match-best 17 digs from the outside while libber Kristen Castellanos added 16.

As a team, the Tigers outhit the Lions .224-to-.138.

The Tigers close out the 2014 regular season on Tuesday, Nov. 25 at San Francisco as Pacific looks to bolster its postseason resume against the Dons. The match is scheduled for 5:00 pm at War Memorial Gym on the hilltop.