Pacific WVB: Tigers Fall At Home For The First Time In 2013

For the first time in 2013, the Pacific women's volleyball team suffered defeat at home in the Alex G. Spanos Center as the Tigers fell 3-2 to Pepperdine on Thursday, Oct. 10. The loss was the Tigers' fourth-straight in WCC play as Pacific fell to 9-8 overall and 2-4 in conference action while the Waves improved to 9-6 on the year and 3-4 in the WCC. At home the Tigers dropped to 5-1.

Set scores for the match were: 17-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 15-13.

Picking up right where she left off a week prior, sophomore Anne-Sophie Bauer came out on fire in set one, pounding down three kills in her first three rotations at the net to lead the attack. Not to be outdone, freshman Alicja Wilk added a pair of kills and a block as the Tigers' foreign contingent guided Pacific to a 15-10 lead at the media timeout. From there, the Tigers continued to build on its lead as the blocking continued to stymie the Wave attack while Bauer added two more kills to help Pacific run away with the set.

In the second set, the Waves began the frame a perfect 5-fof-5 at the net that put the Tigers on their heels and set the tone for what would be a Wave dominated set. Pacific would trail by as much as five early at 11-6 before closing to with in two. However, Pepperdine rolled off five-straight points to take total control of the set, turning the tables on the Tigers. The Waves built a lead of as much as eight points late that led to an evening of the match at one set apiece.

A controversial call early in the third frame changed what would have been a five point Tiger lead into just three points and stripped Pacific of the momentum it was building in the third set. After struggling to shake off the call and letting the Waves tie the set at 14-14, the Tigers finally cleared their heads and used a 4-1 run to take back control of the contest. The run came on the back of Bauer as the sophomore, who saw just trip to the net in the second set, picked up a pair of kills and a block.  The lead would hold as Bauer finished off the set victory with her fifth kill of the frame to put Pacific up 2-1.

Building on their finish to the third set, the Tigers came out firing on all cylinders in the fourth set as Pacific used a 5-0 right off the bat to establish the early four-point lead. Despite holding multiple four points lead throughout the set, the Tigers found themselves in a dogfight as Pepperdine continued to fight back until evening the contest at 19-19. From there, it was a battle to see who would blink first as the Waves stole the set with a 3-0 run to send the match into the fifth and decisive set.

Finding themselves in what has become unfamiliar territory in 2013, the Tigers could not come up with the magic they had a season ago in the fifth set as Pepperdine outfought Pacific late to take the match. As they did in each of their three set victories on the night, the Waves used a late rally to do their damage as Pacific saw a 12-11 lead vanish behind a 3-0 run by Pepperdine.

Overall, the Tigers saw Bauer finish the night with a season-best 17 kills on 43 attacks. Wilk posted a career-high 12 kills on .235 hitting while posting nine digs and three blocks. Defensively, junior Gillian Howard was at her best as the third-year middle tallied a career-high 10 blocks including three solo efforts as she recorded the Tigers' first 10+ block night in over a decade. Sophomores Kimmy Whitson and Kat Schulz each tallied double-doubles in the match as Whitson posted 49 assists and 12 digs while Schulz had 10 kills and 13 digs. Freshman Lexi Elman recorded her second-straight 20+ dig effort as the first-year libero picked up 23 digs.

For the Waves, the night was dominated by Jillian Bergeson, Katie Messing, and Samantha Cash. Bergeson posted a match-high 19 kills to lead the attack while messing added 17 kills and 17 digs for the double-double. Cash ended her night with 14 kills and five blocks as she posted the final two kills on the night to finish off the Tigers. Overall, the Waves outhit Pacific .257-to-.211.

Pacific will look to rebound against Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Oct. 12, when the Tigers return to the Spanos Center for WCC action. The match is scheduled for 7:00 pm after being moved from a 1:00 pm start.