Sept. 13, 2007
Box Score
Stockton, Calif. - The Pacific women's volleyball team opened up the Asics Invitational with a 3-1 win over Loyola Marymount on Thursday, September 13. The win moved the Tigers to 5-2 on the season while the Lions dropped to 6-5 overall.
Game scores for the match were: 23-30, 30-25, 30-27, 30-26
Playing in front of their home crowd for the first time in 2007 the Tigers got off to a slow start as the Lions were able to capture game one of the match with a seven point advantage. With the game still in doubt at 21-20, the Tigers struggled to keep up with the Loyola attack as the Lions went on a 9-3 run to seal the opening game victory. For the game, the Tigers were outhit by the Lions .333-to-.150 as Pacific committed eight errors in 40 swings.
Game two was a complete reversal for the Tigers as they came out swining from the opening serve, hitting their best percentage of the night at a .488 clip (23 kills and just three errors in 41 swings). With the game teetering back-and-forth and the Tigers down 13-9, Pacific used an 11-2 run to put themselves ahead by a comfortable margin. During the run junior Kara Uhl (Cypress, Calif.) on her shoulders, pounding down four of her six kills in the game. With a six point lead, the Lions stormed back to within one at 23-22, but a kill by senior Johanna Hilbers (Omaha, Neb.) and back-to-back kills by junior Alexa Anderson (Los Gatos, Calif.) put the Tigers back up by four points. Emphasizing the momentum shift of the match, Uhl and sophomore Masha Vaysburg (Livermore, Calif.) blocked Heather Hughes attack to cap the game at 30-25.
Keeping the momentum rolling after the intermission break, the Tigers pushed ahead of the Lions 18-13 in game three with Hilbers at the line serving. However, a service error after a Lions' timeout started a Loyola rally that would see the Lions knot the game up at 19-19. However, just as in game two, the Tigers pulled together a run of their own, winning six of the next seven points to once again regain a five point lead over Loyola. The Tigers would hold that five point advantage all the way to match point at 29-24. Serving for the match, Pacific posted two attack errors and saw an Emily Day attack touch down as the lead shrunk to 29-27. However, after a Tigers timeout, Anderson gave the Tigers game three with her eighth kill of the game.
Up two games to one, the Tigers put away the match as they ran out to a 15-8 lead in the fourth and what would be final game of the match, As Pacific pressed on, Loyola pulled itself with in striking distance as they finally closed the gap to just two points, again, this time at 28-26. Just as before the Tigers put away the match with their offense, as sophomore Megan MimMack (Upland, Calif.) and Uhl posted consecutive kills to seal the four-game win for Pacific. The Tigers hit just .135 in the game, but they held the Lions to just a .071 clip in the game.
Offensively, Anderson led the Tigers with 19 kills overall on 52 swings with 10 errors, She also added 10 digs to post the double-double. Uhl also tallied a double-double for the Tigers in the win as she had 14 kills and 13 digs on the night while Hilbers knocked down 15 kills and led the Tigers with a .400 hitting percentage. She also posted a match-high five blocks on the night. Junior Shannon Krug (Colorado Springs, Colo.) added 58 assists for the Tigers as they hit .253 as a team. Senior Julie Magud (Stockton, Calif.) posted 23 digs defensively for the Tigers.
On the other side of the net, Heather Hughes, the nation's leading attacker, posted a game-high 22 kills on 52 swings. Emily Day and Christianna Reneau each added double-doubles for Loyola as Day posted 14 kills and 12 digs while Reneau had 11 kills and 12 digs.
The Tigers will be back in action on Saturday, September 15 as they take on Oregon State to close out the Asics Invitational. Loyola will face off against the Beavers on Friday, September 14 in the middle game of the tournament.
