STOCKTON, Calif. – The University of the Pacific volleyball team dropped a pair of matches on the first day of the Sacramento State Tournament, losing to Boise State and host Sacramento State.

UOP started the day with a 25-19, 25-18, 25-16 loss to Boise State. The Broncos, who raised their record to 6-1, were sparked by a .382 hitting percentage and a frontline that came away with 11.5 team blocks. Edwards led the attack for Pacific with 10 kills for her sixth match with double-digit kills. The two-setter approach brought Heller and Leo with 16 and 11 assists, respectively. Plus, Tubbs had a match-high 16 digs in the loss. 
 
Set 1
The set saw the two teams start the match, splitting the first 16 points for an early 8-8 tie. Pacific broke the deadlock for a 15-10 on a Heller kill to prompt a BSU timeout. The Broncos came back with a decisive 9-1 run to regain the lead for a 19-16 lead on an Alli O'Harra kill. A two-point difference at 19-17 would as close as UOP would get. Makayla Hansen had seven kills to lead the Broncos, who hit .441 in the opening set.
 
Set 2
The second set saw it tied on four occasions and three lead changes. Another back and forth start to the set before a 6-0 spurt put Boise State ahead 14-8 and for the remainder of the set. The Tigers managed to cut the deficit to four, 20-16 which prompted a BSU timeout. The Broncos closed out the set on a 5-2 run. The Tigers got four kills each from Ramonni Cook and Edwards in the set. It was the BSU frontline, who had 5.5 blocks including four block assists by Alyssa Wissinger that was the difference, plus BSU hit at a .412 clip.
 
Set 3
After a 3-3 tie to start the set, a small two-point push by BSU was just enough to push the Broncos ahead for the remainder of the set. Later in the set, the Broncos pushed the lead to 15-9 and 18-10, respectively. Four more blocks and a balanced offensive attack led BSU to the 25-16 set victory. Three-different Tigers – Cook, Sedona Sherman and Darina Kumanova – had three kills.
 
In the second match of the day, the Tigers nearly rallied from a two-set deficit before losing in five to host Sacramento State, 25-19, 25-20, 26-28, 21-25, 17-15. Edwards paced a Pacific attack that hit .133 in the loss with 27 kills. She was joined in double digits by Ramonni Cook, who added 13 kills and a .161 hitting percentage. Jenna Heller found Tiger hitters for 47 assists, plus the service game for UOP was strong with seven service aces. The frontline came away with six blocks including four block assists by Kaelyn Saler.
 
Set 1
Sacramento State led from start to finish en route to a 25-19 win. The offense for the Hornets saw six-different players record a kill and the frontline come away with five blocks. Pacific was led by a five-kill effort from Edwards.
 
Set 2
The second set was tied on six occasions but just two lead changes. Pacific overcame an early 6-2 lead in the set to take a 15-14 lead when Saler and Abby Miller teamed up for a block. The two teams were tied on three occasions until the Hornets went ahead 21-18 on kills by Caitlin Volkmann and Bridgette Smith and a UOP service error en route to a 25-20 win.

Set 3
Pacific found itself behind as much as seven on a pair of occasions. Trailing 17-10, Heller came away with a surprise kill to spark seven-straight points for the Tigers to tie the set for the first time since 2-2. The set would go on to be tied on seven more occasions until UOP came away with a 28-26 set victory on a kill by Cook and a Jadyn Tubbs service ace. 

Set 4
The fourth set saw the Tigers rally to force a fifth and deciding set. Edwards took charge with nine kills and a .190 hitting percentage to lead UOP, plus Heller added 15 assists. Following a Pacific timeout early in the set, the Tigers started to claw back from the early deficit as they tied the set for the second time at 17 when Saler picked up a kill. The two teams were also tied at 18 and 20 before the Tigers scored five of the next six points en route to a 25-21 set victory. Twoof the five points came on kills by Sedona Sherman for UOP.

Set 5
Sacramento State raced out to an early 7-3 lead but a resilient Pacific squad came back to tie the set on a pair of occasions to prompt a timeout by the host Hornets at 11. The Tigers went ahead 14-12 lead to force Sacramento State to call its final timeout, who withstood a pair of set and match points en route to a 17-15 win. Edwards had five more kills in the final set, Heller added seven assists.

Next Up
The Tigers will close out the Sacramento State Tournament on Saturday when they will face CSUN at 11 a.m.

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