Sept. 2, 2005

Box Score

STOCKTON, Calif. - The Pacific Tigers opened the Nike Invitational with a 3-0 sweep of Bradley on Friday, Sept. 2. Game scores for the match were 30-22, 30-14, 30-25. With the win the Tigers improved to 3-1, while Bradley dropped to 0-3.

After falling behind 12-8 early in the opening game, the Tigers battled back to score the next seven points to take a 15-12 lead. Senior Sidney Bennett (Louisville, Ky.), sophomore Kara Uhl (Cypress, Calif.) and the serving of freshman Rebecca Mason (Los Gatos, Calif.) led the way for the Tigers as Uhl slammed down the first kill of the run, and Bennett had three kills during the run. With the Tigers leading 24-21 later in the game, another Uhl kill brought Mason back to the service line and ignited another run as Pacific scored the next four points to put the game out of reach at 28-21. The Tigers took game one 30-22.

Pacific's momentum from the close of game one carried into game two as the Tigers held Bradley to a .037 hitting percentage, forcing six errors and allowing only seven kills. The Tiger offense, meanwhile, connected on 14 kills with just one error (a .433 hitting percentage) as Pacific breezed to a 30-14 win in game two.

The Tigers' defensive intensity remained high for the third and final game as Pacific held Bradley to a .000 hitting percentage, forcing 10 errors on 39 swings. Leading 24-23 in the third game, Pacific forced back-to-back errors by Bradley attackers, then got back-to-back kills from senior Ashley Groothuis (Aurora, Neb.) to take a 28-23 lead. Pacific went on to claim the 3-0 sweep, 30-25.

Groothuis led the Tigers with a match-high 14 kills. Her first kill of the evening gave Ashley 1,000 kills in her career with the Tigers. Uhl finished with 11 kills and three aces. Nikki Pierzchala led Bradley with eight kills.

In the opening match of the Nike Invitational, Purdue defeated Saint Louis 3-0 (30-21, 30-26, 30-21). Sophomore Lizzie Jacques led the Boilermakers with 13 kills.

All four teams return to action on Saturday, Sept. 3 as each team will have two matches. The Tigers and Saint Louis start the action at 10 a.m., followed by Bradley vs. Purdue at 12 p.m. The final session of the Nike Invitational will feature Bradley vs. Saint Louis at 5 p.m., while Pacific will face Purdue at 7 p.m.