SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Four Tigers reached double-digit kills and sophomore Alessia Couchond recorded a career high 50 assists but were clipped by the Dons at the Sobrato Center in four sets (18-25, 25-22, 23-25, 23-25) on Saturday afternoon.

Graduate Olivia Keller was clicking on all cylinders for Pacific (8-19, 2-14 WCC), going for a match-high 18 kills on 48 swings and was instrumental in the Tigers' winning set, getting five of her kills in the set alone. The only player more crucial to Pacific in that second set was sophomore Alyson Cox, who tallied six of her twelve kills in the second frame.

Her 12 kills match her career-high, set earlier this season against Idaho State, and followed up by her performance against Saint Mary's, reached ten or more kills in consecutive matches for the first time in her career. Like Keller, Cox swung an efficient ball on the afternoon, posting a .250 hitting percentage.

Joining the string of career performances was graduate Valentina Varani, who reached ten kills for the first time in her career. Prior to this afternoon, Varani had never gone over seven kills, set during
September of 2024 when she was a member of Coastal Carolina's team. And on the defensive side, Varani tallied three more blocks, meaning she will need just two blocks over the final two matches to reach the century mark.

Senior Logan Blutreich also notched 11 kills in the effort.

On the distributing end of each of those four's kills was Couchond, who prior to today had never gone for 40 or more assists in a match. Couchond was so effective setting for the Tigers, she nearly matched her previous three outings combined (51 total assists against Saint Mary's, Oregon State and Seattle). The sophomore was able to call her own number as well, matching her career-best three kills on eight swings (which had last been done against San Francisco (6-20, 4-12 WCC) in October). She would also add nine digs to make contributions defensively.

Couchond was largely not called upon in the back row defensively because freshman Bella Gutierrez exploded for 21 digs, eclipsing her previous career high for the second straight match. The freshman was Pacific's most targeted player in the serving game and safely received 30 of her 31 opportunities. She was also able to add some firepower in the offensive game plan, serving up two aces.

Senior Jayhlin Swain also reached double digit digs with 11.

The team will now head down to Southern California for matches against San Diego and LMU to conclude the season. First ball Tuesday from the Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

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