Closing out their opening weekend of action to start the 2014 season, the Pacific sand volleyball made it a perfect weekend as the Tigers took down Cal, 4-1, on Sunday, Mar. 9. The win kept the Tigers' unblemished to begin the new year as they improved to 3-0 over the weekend's action.
Kicking off the morning's action in dominating fashion, the veteran team of senior Megan Birch and junior Katy Tagart made short work of Cal's No. 5 pairing as the duo won their match 21-7, 21-7 to remain perfect as a partnership. Birch and Tagart's match ended their match almost as fast as it took the first set on court one to come to a close with Alicja Wilk and Hanna Levanen grabbing the opening set victory over Cal's Adrienne Gehan and Joan Caloiaro, 21-15. The duo gave Pacific the 2-0 overall lead just a few minutes later as they finished off the sweep at No. 4 with a 21-16 victory.
Needing just one more point over the final three matches, the Tigers secured the overall match victory during the second session of play with a win at No. 3 by Mia Feiner and Gillian Howard. Having won their previous two matches, the odd couple duo for Pacific needed an extra set to come up with their win but remained perfect in third set tie-breakers with a 15-7 victory.
With the match in hand, the top two duos stepped on the courts for the Tigers looking to bolster their early season resumes. Finding themselves in a pair of fights on courts one and two, the Tigers relinquished their only point of the match at the No. 2 spot while having to fight from behind at No. 1. Despite giving up their first set of the season, Kat Schulz and Lexi Elman recovered from their first set loss to run away with their third pair victory, dominating the final set of action for the win. Needing to play just 19 points in the final set, the Tigers' top pair relied on strong blocking from Schulz and a tough serve from Elman to come up with the impressive 15-4 victory and the match win.
The Tigers are back in action on Mar. 27 when they travel to Moraga, Calif. to take on the No. 8 ranked Saint Mary's Gaels.
Pacific 4 – Cal 1
1) Schulz/Elman (PAC) def. Gehan/Caloiaro (CAL) - 19-21, 21-18, 15-4
2) Vukasovic/Cole (CAL) def. Whitson/Bauer (PAC) - 21-16, 21-18
3) Feiner/Howard (PAC) def. Gombar/Kerr (CAL) - 20-22, 21-15, 15-7
4) Wilk/Levanen (PAC) def. Milosavljevic/Blackwell (CAL) - 21-15, 21-16
5) Birch/Tagart (PAC) def. Leap/Olson (CAL) - 21-7, 21-7