Sept. 8, 2007
Box Score
Portland, Ore. - Trailing 5-0 in the fifth game, the Pacific women's volleyball team pulled together to defeat Portland State, 3-2, including a 17-15 win in game five on Saturday, Sept. 8 at the Nike Invitational.
Game scores for the match were: 29-31, 31-29, 24-30, 30-18, 17-15.
The victory moved Pacific to 3-2 on the season and 2-0 in the Nike Invitational, while Portland State fell to 4-4 overall and 0-2 in the tournament.
Down 5-0 in the decisive fifth game, sophomore Meagan MimMack (Upland, Calif.) led a six-point charge by Pacific. MimMack started the rally with back-to-back kills, then junior Kara Uhl (Cypress, Calif.) delivered an dagger with an ace to make it 5-3. Following a Portland State attacking error, junior Alexa Anderson (Los Gatos, Calif.) knotted the game at 5-5 with her 17th kill of the match. The Tigers took the lead block from 6-5 as MimMack and sophomore Masha Vaysburg (Livermore, Calif.) capped Pacific's rally with a thunderous block.
Portland State, however, charged back to build an 11-9 lead moments later. Once again the Tigers rose to the challenge with four straight points on a kill from senior Johanna Hilbers (Omaha, Neb.), then forced three straight attacking errors by the Vikings.
Tied at 15-15 with the match in the balance, Portland State's Marija Vojnovic presented Pacific with its third match point on a service error. This time the Tigers capitalized as Hilbers and Anderson blocked a quick set attempt by Portland State setter Dominique Fradella to earn the 17-15 win.
The dramatic win in game five was just the final chapter of a tumultuous battle between the Tigers and Vikings.
Pacific blazed out to a staggering 26-14 lead in the first game, but Portland State rattled off nine straight points and earned an improbable 31-29 victory in the first game.
Despite the surprising loss, the Tigers refused to let themselves quit. Instead Pacific staged a comeback of their own in game two. Down 29-26, Pacific scored five straight points to send the match to the break tied at one game. Facing game point, Uhl earned the serve for Pacific with a strong cross-court kill. The ensuing point, Uhl kept the Tigers alive again with a solo block of Portland State's Christie Hamilton to make it 29-28. Vaysburg and MimMack joined the block party with a stuff of Vojnovic to tie game two at 29-29. Uhl followed with her fourth kill of the game to give Pacific a 30-29 edge. Vaysburg punctuated the Tigers win by slamming down an overpass from the Vikings to claim game two 31-29.
Coming out of the break, Portland State scored the first four points in game three and refused to relinquish the lead, taking game three, 30-24. The Vikings held Pacific to a hitting percentage of just .086 in the third game as the Tigers committed nine errors and had 12 kills on 35 swings.
Game four was the most back-and-forth affair of the match in the early stages as the Tigers and Vikings battled through four ties and three lead changes in to a 10-10 deadlock. Pacific grabbed control through the middle of the game as the Tigers won 11 of the next 14 points to establish a 21-13 lead. MimMack and Hilbers led this Pacific rally with a combined four kills, while the Tigers defense forced Portland State into four errors as well.
Later in game four, Pacific freshman Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany) put the game away with three consecutive aces to push the Tigers' lead to 27-15. Pacific went on to earn the 30-18 win and force the fifth game.
Anderson, MimMack and Hilbers led the Pacific offense as each Tiger posted season-highs in kills. Anderson finished with 18 kills and 12 digs for her second straight double-double. MimMack had 17 kills and a career-high seven block assists. Hilbers, meanwhile, finished with 15 kills and a career-high of nine blocks, all nine coming on block assists.
Junior setter Shannon Krug (Colorado Springs, Colo.) also earned her second straight double-double with season-high 62 assists and 12 digs. Uhl rounded out the double-doubles for Pacific with 13 kills and a season-high 22 digs.
Vojnovic led the Vikings with 18 kills, while libero Jacqueline Thomas had a match-high 29 digs.
The Tigers will face tournament host, the Portland Pilots, later tonight in the final game of the Nike Invitational at 8 p.m. A Tigers' victory would give Pacific their first tournament championship since 2004 when Pacific earned the Bankers Classic Championship on Nov. 27 in Stockton, Calif.
