STOCKTON, Calif. – Sophomore Alessia Couchond spurred a run of six straight points to open the second set of Thursday night's match against LMU, then handed the reigns to the Tigers defense in a four-set (23-25, 25-17, 27-25, 25-22) win at the Alex G. Spanos Center for the program's first home win of the season.

Couchond's time at the service line during the game-defining run included three of her four match aces that helped move the sophomore up to second on the team in the category. Far from the only impact Couchond had on the game, her match-high 31 assists saw her eclipse the 30-assist mark for the first time since Aug. 30 at CSUN. On the defensive side she had a pivotal role securing 13 digs for the fourth double-double of the season.

Joining her in notching a double-double was graduate Olivia Keller who's 19 kills and 13 digs is her third double-double of the season. Keller's 19 kills also came on her most efficient outing of the past six matches (.229 hitting percentage).

Pacific's (7-7, 1-2 WCC) third double-double of the contest came from redshirt freshman Mila Stojakovic who reached ten kills for the second time in her career and set a new career-high 15 digs. The Sacramento native was outdone in the digs department on the team only by senior Jayhlin Swain with 17 digs. As a result of her performance tonight, Swain eclipsed 1,000 digs in her career.

Freshman Bella Gutierrez tied her career-high 12 digs in the match to punctuate a defense that dug a season-best 79 balls and held the LMU (3-9, 1-2 WCC) to a .116 hitting percentage, it's third lowest of the season. Conversely, LMU's hitting percentage is the third strongest defensive showing of Pacific's season, behind only UNCW (.020) and CBU (.072).

Rotating back to the offensive side of the court, fellow freshman Mazi Smith set a new career-high 11 kills to aid the winning effort. Over her past four outings, Smith has been on a tear averaging 2.23 kills per set and twice set new career-highs.

Not quite in double figures was senior Logan Blutreich with nine kills, but did improve Pacific's record to 6-1 when she reaches five kills or more in a match and 15-3 in her career when she hits above .100 (hit .412 against LMU tonight).

The Tigers remain at home over the weekend for a match with San Diego on Saturday at noon. A Pacific win would be the first in the series since 2021, which did occur inside the Spanos Center. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.

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