Provo, Utah - In search of the upset against the first place and No. 14 ranked BYU Cougars, the Tiger volleyball team came up short in a 3-0 loss on Saturday, Nov. 8. The loss dropped the Tigers to 19-7 on the year and 8-5 in WCC play while the Cougars improved to 21-4 and 12-2 in the conference race.

Set scores for the match were: 25-21, 27-25, 26-24.

The Tigers found themselves playing from behind early in the contest as BYU started the match nearly perfect to open up a six point lead midway through the first set. Picking up eight kills on just 15 attacks, BYU finally made its first mistake to open the door for Pacific as the Tigers saw BYU commit three straight errors to climb back into the set. Sandwiched in between a pair of unforced errors was Pacific's first block of the match as senior Gillian Howard and junior Kimmy Whitson combined to stuff the 6'7" Jennifer Hamson. 

After falling behind by five late, the Tigers rallied back to within two at 20-18, going to junior Kat Schulz often as she came up with six kills to lead the way. However, despite their best efforts, the Tigers could not get over the hump as the Cougars were able to hold on over the homestretch to capture the opening victory thanks in large part to their all-american, Alexa Gray, who outpaced Schulz with seven kills in the frame.

The battle continued to rage in the second set as the teams traded points with neither side being able to grow their advantage more than two for the first 20 points. Early, the Tigers went to Howard for their offense as the senior produced three kills after being nearly shutout in the opening set to keep Pacific on pace with the Cougars. That would all change midway through the set with Howard rotated to the bench as a handful of mental mistakes by the Tigers allowed BYU to go on the first sustained run of the frame to take a four-point lead at 14-10. 

Down 15-11, the Tigers got Howard back into the game and immediately pushed back with a 5-0 run of their own to take back the lead at 16-15 as Howard came up with a pair of kills. Again, however, that momentum would be short lived, as Gray ended the Tigers rally with a pair of kill while a pair of Pacific mistakes turned the tables into BYU's favor. Trailing late, the Tigers looked to Howard to get them back into it as the senior picked up two more kills before rotating out. Pacific would grab a late two point lead at 23-21 with Howard out thanks to sophomore Alicia Wilk picking up the slack in the middle, but it would not be enough as BYU went to Gray to overcome the deficit and eventually steal the win, 27-25. Gray finished the set with six kills while Howard came up with seven in all.

Picking up right where they left off, the Tigers used Howard to build an early advantage over the Cougars as she picked up four kills in the first 11 points of the third set to put Pacific ahead 7-4 before rotating out. After holding onto their lead with her out, Pacific pushed its lead to as much as five with her back in the game before Gray once again asserted herself on the BYU side of the net with a block and a pair of kills to even the set at 13-13. BYU would take the lead at 14-13 before a Howard kill evened the set at 14-14 and a kill from senior Katy Tagart gave Pacific back the lead. After battling back, the Tigers held off the Cougars for one match point when Howard came up her her eighth kill of the frame, but she would be forced to rotate out, opening the door for the Cougars to pull out the victory. 

The Cougars were able to overcome the efforts of Howard who finished with a season-best 17 kills on .571 attacking (17-1-28) as they were able to shutdown the rest of Pacific's attackers. Pacific was held to .186 hitting as the Cougars nation-best block produced 15.0 blocks on the afternoon. Behind Howard, sophomore Lexi Elman came up with 10 kills and seven digs while Schulz tallied nine kills and 13 digs. Freshman Katrin Gotterba paced the Tigers back row with 19 digs. Whitson ended the day with a team-best five blocks to go along with 28 assists.  

BYU became just the second team to hit over. 250 against the Tigers on the year as the Cougars hit .252 (45-14-123). Gray finished with a match-best 18 kills on .293 hitting while Hamson posted 12 kills on .320 attacking. Both posted four blocks while Whitney Young finished with eight blocks to lead the defensive efforts.

The Tigers return home for the final time next week as they host Portland and Gonzaga. Pacific takes on the Pilots on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 7:00 pm. The match is the Tigers military appreciation night as Pacific honors those who have served the country with free admission to all current and former military personal.