RENO, Nev. – Weekend three of the volleyball season has the Pacific Tigers heading to the University of Nevada's Virginia Street Gym for a two-game swing from September 12-13, first facing the host Nevada Wolfpack on Friday at 5 pm followed up with a match against Eastern Washington on Saturday at 10 am.

Beginning with Friday's match, Pacific (4-2) has historically owned the series with Nevada (1-4). Holding a 26-8 lead, and a 7-4 advantage on Nevada's home court, Head Coach Greg Gibbons has continued that tradition with a 4-1 record of his own against the Wolfpack. The Tigers have won 12 of the last 13 sets played between the two schools, including a 3-0 sweep in 2023. Only two student-athletes have history against Nevada, one of whom being Pacific's leading attacker, graduate Olivia Keller. The transfer from Fresno State has faced the Wolfpack four times in her career and produced 16 total kills, a solo block and two digs.

The other Tiger is senior Logan Blutreich, who was on the court for that 2023 win and tallied three kills, two digs and a block assist.

The second half of the weekend swing is Pacific's first neutral court meeting with Eastern Washington (0-6). In the previous two series matchups the Tigers pulled out victories, most recently a 3-0 win on EWU's home court in 2023. Blutreich was effective that 2023 match, finishing with five kills and five total blocks.

In this meeting, Pacific will lean on its freshmen to help carry the offensive load. Freshman Mazi Smith played in all 11 sets at the Eagle Invitational and averaged a kill per set and swung an efficient .321 from the court. She also made an impact on the Tigers block, posting ten total blocks on the weekend. Fellow freshman Hannah Koester continued her position as one of the team's featured outside hitters. The Northfield, Minnesota native averaged 2.64 kills per set at Georgia Southern and set a career-best three service aces in the win over Mercer.

Multiple Tigers are closing in on career milestones entering the weekend, including senior Jayhlin Swain, who needs just 79 more digs to reach 1,000. Sophomore Aly Cox is 17 assists and 28 digs away respectively from 100 in her career. Blutreich meanwhile needs 13 blocks to reach the triple digit milestone. Koester for her part is 32 kills shy of her 100th career kill.

Friday's match against Nevada will be the only broadcast match and can be seen on the Mountain West Network.

Tigers Tickets
Tickets for upcoming events can be purchased through the PacificTigers.com tickets tab, or by calling the Box Office at 209-946-2474.  Groups of 10 or more are eligible for a group discount and exclusive fan experiences.
 
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