STOCKTON, Calif. - Pacific's volleyball team (18-9, 10-5 WCC) played its final home game of the regular season, downing the Pepperdine Waves (18-7, 14-1 WCC) 24-26, 25-18, 25-15, 13-25, 15-12. The Tigers snapped Pepperdine's six match sweep streak that dated back to the middle of October and broke the Waves' previously unblemished conference record, while celebrating the successes of their five seniors in front of 1,070 spectators.
 
The night opened with a near even first set, with Pepperdine acting disruptive early in the match trying to get the Tigers out of place. Despite the Waves' efforts to throw them off, Pacific kept up with Pepperdine the entire time. However, a few errors and three kills from Pepperdine at the end of the first set put the Waves up 1-0.
 
The Tigers were electric in the second and third sets, with Pacific hitting .390 to Pepperdine's .194 in the second set to claim it 25-18. The momentum carried into the third, as the Tigers hit .273 to the Waves' .077. 
 
Entering tonight's contest, Pepperdine hadn't dropped a set since Oct. 19, where they went to five against LMU. The Waves were riding a six-game sweep streak, but the Tigers put the newly crowned 2023 WCC Champion on notice, stealing two sets to go up 2-1 heading into the fourth.
 
The Tigers saw their largest deficit of the night in the fourth set, as the Waves forced a fifth after defeating Pacific 25-13. Pepperdine hit .292 in the fourth, their best hitting percentage of the evening.
 
The final set got off to a quick start, with the Tigers leaping out to a 5-0 lead, capped by an ace from senior Alexa Edwards. Prior to tonight, the Waves had only gone to five sets three times this season and when they did, they were 1-2 in those matches.
 
However, Pepperdine didn't back down and pulled within two, but Edwards was on fire for her senior night. She earned a piece of the final three points for the Tigers, sealing the match with a kill to give the Tigers the 3-2 victory over the 2023 WCC Champion.
 
Edwards led the team with 19 kills, hitting .302 on 43 attempts and six errors. She earned another double-double, recording 18 digs on the night. She added one ace and two blocks to elevate the Tigers to another victory. 
 
Fifth year senior Biamba Kabengele added 18 kills, four blocks and nine digs. She went for a team-leading and new career-high 5 service aces. Junior Jenna Heller tied a season-high 51 assists, while notching a kill and 13 digs.
 
Senior Darina Kumanova also recorded a double-double, recording 11 kills and 11 digs on the night. Senior Ramonni Cook had five kills, four digs, and three blocks. 
 
Sophomore Emily Van Groningen led the team with seven blocks, including two solo. She also earned one of the nine total service aces by the Tigers and five kills. 
 
"You had two really good teams going at it and competing at that level. That's just where our conference is," head coach Greg Gibbons shared after the match, "That was fun and high level volleyball and if you look, we've done that all season. Now it's about building consistency and it was great tonight."
 
"When we played them the first time, we lost 3-0, but they were really tight. Tonight, we were the better team," Gibbons added, "That was awesome, I can sit here and talk about our team from the girls on the bench to our starters, everybody contributed tonight and what a great team effort for the win today."
 
The Tigers play one final game, going out on the road to revisit Saint Mary's in Moraga. Pacific takes on the Gaels on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 1 p.m.