Stockton, Calif. - Thomas Hodges recorded 14 kills and Pacific hit .306 in an emotional 3-0 win (25-14, 25-18, 25-22) over Cal Baptist in the Pacific men's volleyball team's final home match.
Thomas Hodges led Pacific with 14 kills without an error, hitting .737. Edgardo Cartagena added seven kills and six blocks, while Christian Franceschi chipped in seven kills against one error for a .400 percentage. Tommy Carmody posted eight blocks, including three solo, and added three kills. Senior libero Javier Caceres recorded nine digs, while Cartagena added seven. Setter Joshua Stewart doled out 31 assists and added four digs.
The Tigers out-hit the Lancers .306 to .000, and posted 15.5 blocks in the match to Cal Baptist's five. Pacific improves to 3-22 overall, 2-20 in MPSF action. Cal Baptist falls to 4-22, 2-20 in MPSF play.
The Tigers opened with seven straight points, including a pair of blocks from Carmody and a kill each from Hodges and Carmody. Rocky DeLyon got CBU on the board, but Hodges and Franceschi provided kills fro a 13-5 lead.
Carmody and Franceschi stretched the lead to 18-9, but a pair of errors cut the Tigers lead to 18-11. Cartagena tallied off a set from Stewart, and Hodges and Franceschi closed out the set with kills for a 25-14 win.
Pacific hit .429 in set one, holding the Lancers to -.120.
Hodges opened set two with a cross-court kill from the right pin, and following a block from Ross and Cartagena, Cartagena and Stewart gave the Tigers a 6-4 lead setting up each others' kills. Ross hammered home a middle set, Joel Blocksom answered back for the Lancers. Cal Baptist rattled off three straight points to even the set at 8-8. Hodges gave the Tigers the lead, and Cartagena's solo block put Pacific up 11-8.
Cartagena tallied again for a 16-11 lead. Cartagena's six-pack kill maintained a five-point margin at 21-16, while a kill from Hodges and block by Ross and Cartagena set up set point. Hodges tucked a serve inside the line for the ace and a 25-18 win. The Tigers hit .458 for the set, while the Tigers held the Lancers to .074.
Carmody opened set three with a solo block, and the Tigers tallied four of the first five points, three coming off blocks. Hodges added a kill as Pacific led 4-1 of the hands of the Lancers before block on the right pin from Carmody and Hodges. The Lancers rallied back to tie at 7-7. Franceschi knotted the set at 12-12 before CBU surged ahead on a kill from Kristopher Johnson and a block by Johnson and DeLyon. Hodges added a kill, and Franceschi tied the set at 17-17. After Pacific took the lead on an attack error, Johnson drew CBU level.
Hodges added a kill, and Carmody and Franceschi teamed for a block. A service error tie it at 20-20, but Hodges recorded back-to-back kills and Franceschi added a block. Hodges and Carmody blocked CBU at the left pin to set up match point. Cartagena finished a kill off the block for the 25-22 win.
The Pacific students among the 728 in attendance mobbed the team on the floor, and the players, in turn, mobbed head coach Joe Wortmann -- the program's only head coach, in his final home game.
Pacific will wrap the 2014 campaign on the road next weekend at UC San Diego and UC Irvine.