PORTLAND, Ore. – The Pacific volleyball team dropped its first West Coast Conference match of the season Saturday evening, falling to Portland, 22-25, 25-20, 25-21, 26-28, 15-12, in a five-set affair at the Chiles Center to complete the team's 14-match road trip to begin the season.
 
Alexa Edwards led the Tigers (9-5, 1-1) offensively, recording her fifth double-double of the season as she led the team with 21 kills and totaled 11 digs. Darina Kumanova, Biamba Kabengele, and Emily Van Groningen also reached double figures in kills during the match, as Kabengele and Van Groningen recorded 10 apiece, while Kumanova was second on the team with 11.
 
Van Groningen was the most efficient on the offensive side of the ball throughout the match, registering her second-highest hitting percentage of the season with a game-high .533 hitting percentage on 15 attempts.
 
Pacific jumped out to an early lead after the first set of play before the Pilots (8-5, 1-1) secured the following two sets to pull ahead. In a back-and-forth battle in the fourth frame, the Tigers jumped ahead and led by five, 17-12, midway through the set. The Pilots responded quickly and used a 10-5 run to even the score 22. Offensively, Edwards helped propel the Tigers to a fourth-set victory, recording 10 kills in the frame as the team won six of the last 10 points to even the match at two sets apiece.
 
The Pilots, however, pulled ahead late in the final set, winning the fifth set by three points to secure the match.
 
"We lost the serving and passing battle tonight," Head Coach Greg Gibbons stated after the hard-fought match. "It is hard to be successful missing 17 serves, and we were a bit too inconsistent at passing tonight … We have a great opportunity to learn and get better from tonight and get ready for our next match."
 
Pacific returns to action on Tuesday, Sept. 27, as the Tigers take on Santa Clara in a West Coast Conference matchup at the Alex G. Spanos Center at 6 p.m.