Stockton, Calif. - The Pacific volleyball team staved off a comeback bid by Oregon State to win in five sets, 25-18, 25-23, 18-25, 23-25, 15-11, Saturday in the finale of the Pacific Community Classic at the Alex G. Spanos Center.

Ashlyn Fleming hit .640 for the match with a new career high in kills with 17 while adding six block assists. Emily Baptista also added a career high 17 kills, with 15 coming in the final three sets. Lexi Elman added 14 kills and 23 digs, while Skylar Wine chopped in 11 kills.

Fleming recorded kills on her first five attempts, and 12 kills on her first 15 attempts before being blocked early in the fourth set.

Andie Shelton added 55 assists with 10 digs, while Katrin Gotterba recorded 26 digs. Maycie LaBass added 11 digs from the Pacific back row.

The Tigers cruised in set one, hitting .269 to Oregon State's .081, but while Pacific's hit swinging continued in set two, the Beavers hit .190 and managed hang around at 23-23 before Fleming put the Tigers ahead and an error gave the Tigers the 25-23 win.

In set three, Pacific's hitting percentage came back to earth and Oregon State flipped the script, out-hitting Pacific .400 to .217 in a 25-18 win.

Pacific trailed 24-16 in set four as they hit .044 for the set. But the Tigers refused to go quietly, staving off seven consecutive set points. Kills from Elman, Wine and Baptista along with a kill and two blocks from Lauren Cline sparked the 7-0 run to pull within one. But the Tigers couldn't wrap it up in four as the run ended on an error.

Katrin Gotterba recorded eight of her 26 digs in set five, as Pacific's defense held Oregon State to .103 in set five. The set featured seven ties and four lead changes before the Tigers took an 11-10 lead and Baptista tallied three kills setting up match point. Fleming recorded the match-winner with her 17th kill to wrap up the tournament.


Earlier in the day, the Tigers were tripped up in five sets by tournament champ South Dakota, falling 3-1. The Tigers had it within three points in all three lost sets but couldn't get the late push they needed for the win.  Just one day after setting a career high in kills, Fleming matched it with another 14 against the Coyotes. The freshman made just four errors as well, hitting .370 to led all Tigers with double-digit attempts.

Emily Baptista hit .342 and picking up 12 kills in her 29 attacks.

Pacific came back from down three to tie the first set at 21 but were unable to keep their run going.  A service ace and an attacking error put the set out of reach with Elizabeth Loschen winning it for the Coyotes.

It was all Pacific in the second set as the Tigers jumped out to a 6-3 lead with four straight points early, including two kills from Skylar Wine.  Wine would end the match with nine kills total.  Pacific stretched their lead to nine points at one point and would eventually win it 25-18.

The third and fourth set were close once again but went the way of the Coyotes.  Pacific led 22-20 in set three but ended up losing on two straight kills by Rachel Schmidt as the set needed extra points to be decided.  Those kills were assisted by South Dakota's Brittany Jessen, who had a triple-double in the match with ten kills, ten digs, and 40 assists.

In the fourth set, fought back from behind to take the lead at 18-16 but once again ran out of gas.  South Dakota would go on to win the set 25-23.

Lexi Elman had a double-double for the Tigers with 11 kills and 14 digs.  She has at least ten kills in all but one match this year and has recorded ten-plus digs in five of eight. Elman picked up two service aces as well a block on the day.

Shelton finished the match with 39 assists, nine digs and four kills.


South Dakota won the Pacific Community Classic with a 3-0 record, while the Tigers placed second at 2-1.

Fleming and Elman landed spots on the All-Tournament team, along with Tournament MVP Audrey Reeg (South Dakota), Brittany Jessen (South Dakota), Mary-Kate Marshall (Oregon State), Lila Toner (Oregon State) and Kortney Lockey (Northern Colorado).

The Tigers will play host to West Virginia this Monday, September 12 at 7:00 pm.