Oct. 31, 2008

Box Score

Stockton, Calif. - Playing at home for the first time in five matches the Pacific women's volleyball team came up with an impressive 3-0 upset of the conferences' top ranked Cal Poly Mustangs on Friday, October 31.

The win improved the Tigers to 6-13 overall and 6-4 in Big West action while Cal Poly fell for just the second time in conference play, dropping to 8-2 in the Big West and 13-8 on the year.

Set scores for the match were: 25-18, 25-19, 25-20.

Pacific hit the court hot scoring the first four points on the serve of sophomore Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany), ignited by an ace. Cal Poly, however, bounced back to tie the match at 4-4, then continued their run to build a 12-7 advantage. Down five to the top team in the Big West, Pacific did what it has done all season at home, dominate.

A combined five kills from juniors Masha Vaysburg (Livermore, Calif.) and Mallori Gibson (Bakersfield, Calif.) keyed a 10 of 12 point run for Pacific, lifting the Tigers into a 17-14 lead. Cal Poly cut Pacific's edge down to 20-18, but the Tigers slammed the door scoring the final seven points of the match. Following a ball handling error by the Mustangs, seniors Alexa Anderson (Los Gatos, Calif.) and Natalia Tomaszewska (Marklowice, Poland) notched back-to-back kills, then Gibson delivered her first ace of the match to make it 24-18. Tomaszewska and Anderson capped the first set with a roof of Ashleigh Bertoni giving the Tigers the 25-18 win.

Pacific led wire to wire in the second set, but early on it was a very close. Leading 15-14, Pacific turned up the pressure with eight of the next nine points. Anderson started the Pacific rush, then Engelhardt delivered back-to-back kills to make it 18-14. After a kill from Cal Poly's Kylie Atherstone, Tomaszewska went down the middle for a kill to make it 19-15. The Tigers forced Atherstone into an error, then Engelhardt sandwiched kills around a block from Vaysburg and senior Shannon Krug (Colorado Springs, Colo.) to push Pacific's lead to 23-15. Moments later, Engelhardt sealed Pacific's victory with her sixth kill of the set to terminate the game, 25-19.

Following the break, Cal Poly authored their best effort yet. The two teams battled back-and-forth through 12 ties in the third set. The Tigers, however, held a final rally in their hand for the opportune moment. Trailing 17-16, Pacific scored six straight points to take command at 22-17. This time the Mustangs kick started the Pacific rally with a service error, sending Krug to the service line tied at 17-17. The Tigers went to the left on consecutive points by Engelhardt to take a 19-17 lead. Krug found Gibson on the right side on the following two points to make it 21-17 and force Cal Poly into its first timeout. Back on the court, the Tigers forced Mustang Ali Waller into an attacking error to make it 22-17. Leading 24-20 moments later, Gibson drove the final nail in the coffin with a kill from the right, ending the match, 25-20.

The Tigers finished the match with a .284 hitting percentage with 49 kills and 16 errors on 116 attempts. Cal Poly, meanwhile, posted a .129 hitting percentage, finishing with 29 kills and 16 errors on 101 attempts.

Anderson led the Tigers with a match-high 14 kills, while Gibson finished with 12 kills and a .423 hitting percentage. Krug posted a match-high 43 assists and delivered seven digs.

Dominique Olowolafe led Cal Poly with nine kills and a .300 hitting percentage.

Pacific returns to the court on Saturday, Nov. 1 as the Tigers host UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. in the Alex G. Spanos Center.