Omaha, Neb. - Kicking off the Bluejay Invitational at Creighton, the Tiger volleyball team made short work of Cal State Bakersfield on Friday afternoon as Pacific picked up a 3-0 sweep of the Roadrunners at D.J. Sokol Arena. The win was Pacific's fifth-straight victory as the Tigers improved to 6-1 on the year while Bakersfield fell to 1-7 on the year.

Set scores for the match were: 25-11, 29-27, 25-18.

Using a strong serving game and a block the Roadrunners could not figure out while playing out of system, the Tigers jumped all over Bakersfield early for a quick win in the opening set of play. Using two big rallys, Tigers ran away with the first set victory as Pacific pieced together a 4-0 run early before putting the Roadrunners away with a 7-0 run midway through the set. Early on, it was the block that got things going as the Tigers came up with three defensive stops, two coming from senior Holland Crenshaw in the middle. Breaking the set open, the Tigers saw Maycie LaBass go on a point-scoring binge from behind the service line as the sophomore served up all four of her aces in the match during the seven-point span that put Bakersfield behind by double-digits. 

Despite the runaway win in the opening set, the Tigers had not broken the Roadrunners' will as Bakersfield came out fighting in the second set in search of evening the match at one set a piece. In what would be the best battle of the day between the two sides, the Tigers needed five attempts to put the Roadrunners away as Bakersfield fought off three-set points at 24-21 to force the set into extra-points. The Tigers would get a fourth crack at putting the Roadrunners away but once again were denied. Bakersfield would get its own chances to capture the set as the Roadrunners held a pair of set points of their own before finally succumbing to a final Pacific run. The Tigers would score the final three points of the set thanks to their redshirt-freshman Alex Holt, who came up with two of her four kills in the frame to finish off the win for the Tigers.

After regrouping in the locker room, the Tigers got back to the form that helped them take the opening set and saw them enter the weekend as the WCC's top hitting team. Making just one error in the set, the Tigers hit .500 (11-1-20) against the Bakersfield defense to pull away late and claim the set and the match. Even with the offense in a groove, it was the serving and defense that seperated the Tigers from the Roadrunners early as Pacific came up with a pair of blocks during another LaBass serving run that turned a one-point deficit into a 12-11 lead. Coming up with both blocks during the run were Kimmy Whitson and Alicja Wilk as the two blocks were the final two for Whitson, who finished the match with a season-best six blocks. From there, the Tigers' offense took over to close things out.

Playing back in her hometown for the first time in her collegiate career, junior and Omaha-native Lexi Elman led the Tiger attack with her seventh-straight double-figure outing as she produced a match-best 14 kills on .290 attacking. The junior's play was a barometer of Pacific's overall offensive play as the Tigers ran away with the two sets in which she controlled the pace of play and struggled when Elman struggled. She finished two digs shy of the double-double with eight digs, trailing only senior Mia Feiner who posted a match-best nine digs in the win. 

Defensively, Pacific produced a season-best 11.0 total blocks led by Whitson and Crenshaw who each tallied six blocks on the day. Just behind the pair, junior Alicja Wilk added four blocks while Holt and Elman each tallied two. Behind the service line, the Tigers came up with 11 aces, their most as a team since a 15 ace effort against Mississippi Valley State in the 2014 season.

As a team, Pacific outhit the Roadrunners .300-to-.126 as no Bakersfield attack reached double-figures in the match. Kelsee Sawyer finished with a team-best nine kills on .273 hitting while Carol Grasso, the younger sister of former Pacific men's volleyball setter Marco Grasso, ended her night with eight kills, seven digs, and three blocks.

The Tigers will play two matches on the second day of the Bluejay Invitational when they take on Lipscomb (10:00 am CT) and Creighton (7:30 pm CT) to close out the tournament.