Stockton, Calif. - For the fourth time in WCC play the Tigers were forced to go five, this time surviving a scare from Saint Mary's as Pacific persevered to win, 3-2, on Saturday night at the Spanos Center. Pacific's win snapped a three-match skid for the Tigers improving to 13-6 on the year and 4-4 in the WCC while the Gaels fell to 6-12 overall and 1-7 in conference action.

Set scores for the match: 22-25, 25-15, 21-25, 25-22, 16-14.

Playing in front of a homecoming crowd of 1,057, the Tigers needed every last bit of home magic they could muster as the upstart Gaels did just about everything in their power to pull off the upset. Behind a season-best blocking performance, the Gaels had the Tigers on the ropes, take a two sets to one lead before Pacific was able to battle back to capture the win at home. Leading the charge for the Tigers was the captain, Kimmy Whitson, who just missed picking up her first career triple-double as the senior came away with 43 assists to go with a career-best 12 kills and eight digs. Whitson was nearly perfect offensively as she was whistled for just one attack error and was dug just once in 14 attempts.

Out of the gate, the Tigers' offense struggled to get anything going as Pacific gave away 10 points in the set on unforced errors while the Gael block picked up late to finish with five in the frame. Despite, the miscues, the Tigers had their chances to take the opener, but a service error at 21-21 sent the Gaels on a 4-1 run to finish the first set win.

Fixing their mistakes from the opener, the Tigers got rolling hitting .424 in the second set to run away win. Spreading the ball around, Pacific saw all six attack eligible players come up with at least two kills in the set while Lexi Elman and Janie Feldsher combined for eight kills on 16 attacks with just one error. The turning point of the set came at 12-10 when Pacific rolled off nine of the next 11 points to push its advantage to nine points.

With the match even at 1-1, it appeared as if Pacific was on the verge of taking firm control of the match as the Tigers led by three midway through the set at 16-13. However, just like the first set of the night, the Gaels again used their block to turn the tides of the match while watching Pacific commit a handful of unforced errors down the stretch to steal away the win. Just like the opening set, the Gaels came up with five total blocks in the set led by Lindsey Calvin and Payton Rund, who each posted three a piece to pace the defense. 

Staring another home loss in the face, the Tigers rebounded once again as the two teams traded sides of the court, jumping out to a six-point lead before holding off a late charge by Saint Mary's to knot the match at 2-2. On the pins, Elman got into a groove for the Tigers with five kills on 13 swings while on the right-side, jujnior Alicja Wilk took to her new spot in the rotation with five kills on seven attacks in the set. In addition to the offense, the Tigers' saw sophomore Maycie LaBass come through defensively with eight digs in the set to keep Pacific's comeback hopes alive.

Forced into the sprint to 15 to decide a winner, the Tigers positioned themselves well early, running out to a 7-3 lead only to see the Gaels respond with a 4-0 run including a pair of blocks that tied the frame at 7-7. Again, Pacific would push ahead forcing the Gaels into mistakes that gave Pacific three chances at the match. Needing just one point for the victory, the Tigers would be denied three times as the Gaels fought back to even the set at 14-14. Unflinching, the Tigers would not succumb to the pressure of the Gaels' attempted comeback as Pacific finished off the night with a kills from Feldsher and Wilk, grabbing the final kill of the night on an overpass by Saint Mary's.

In total, Elman lead all attackers with 19 kills while adding four aces and nine digs. On the right, Wilk set a new career mark with 15 kills while adding six digs and one block. LaBass would finish with 12 kills and 12 digs for the double-double while sophomore libero Katrin Gotterba quietly went about her business to record 27 digs.

For the Gaels, Lindsey Knudsen posted 15 kills and 11 digs while Rudd added 10 digs to go with 10 blocks. Calvin finished her night with a match-best 11 blocks to go with six kills. Running the offense, Mary Hernandex tallied assists to go with a team-best 14 digs.

The Tigers close out the first half of conference play on Thursday, Oct. 22 as Pacific hits the road to Santa Clara to take on the Broncos. The match at the Leavey Center is scheduled for 6:00 pm.