Sept. 6, 2008

Box Score

Corvallis, Ore. - The Pacific women's volleyball team put up another strong effort but remained winless in 2008, falling to Pepperdine, 3-0, on Saturday, Sept. 6 at the Oregon State / Asics Classic.

Set scores for the match were: 28-26, 26-24 and 25-17.

The loss dropped Pacific to 0-4 on the season, while Pepperdine moved to 5-0.

Coming off a thrilling, but heartbreaking, five-set loss to Oregon State the previous night, Pacific showed no ill effects against Pepperdine. The first set was a series of short runs for each side. The result was a back-and-forth battle featuring nine ties and three lead changes. Late in the set with Pepperdine leading 24-21, the Tigers put together a final burst. The Pacific rally started by forcing an attack error from the Waves, then juniors Mallori Gibson (Bakersfield, Calif.) and Masha Vaysburg (Livermore, Calif.) blocked Julie Rubenstein to make it 24-23. Senior Kara Uhl (Long Beach, Calif.) capped the run with a laser cross-court kill. The Tigers went on to dodge two more Pepperdine set points, but the Waves refused to wilt under Pacific's pressure and outlasted the Tigers, 28-26.

Pacific out-hit Pepperdine, .163 to .025 in the first set as the Tigers connected on 14 kills, but the difference in the set came from the service line. Pacific committed seven service errors in the set, while Pepperdine had only one.

Set number two could be characterized as a yo-yo. Pepperdine raced out to an early 6-2 lead, but the Tigers chipped away slowly to pull even at 9-9. The Waves responded with six straight points to build a 15-9 lead, but once again the Tigers simply chipped away a little at a time. The next tie came at 18-18, thanks to a block from seniors Alexa Anderson (Los Gatos, Calif.) and Natalia Tomaszewska (Marklowice, Poland). The seesaw nature of the first set reappeared from there as the two teams battled through ties at each of the next six points to push the score to 24-24. Pepperdine, however, took the set with consecutive points on a kill from Rachel Lumsden, followed by a service ace from Rubenstein to earn the 26-24 win.

Both team posted impressive hitting percentages in the second set. Pacific hit .414 in the set with 16 kills and just four errors on 29 attempts, Pepperdine was right behind at .412 (16 kills and four errors on 34 attempts).

Continuing an alarming trend, the Tigers found themselves down 10-6 early in the third set. Pacific tried to claw back into the set and the match, pulling within one point on two occasions (10-9 and 13-12), but the Tigers couldn't get over the hump and eventually succumbed to Pepperdine's onslaught, falling 25-17.

Three Tigers finished in double figures in the match, led by 13 kills from Gibson. Uhl posted 12 kills in the match, while Anderson finished with 11.

Pepperdine's Rubenstein led everyone with 16 kills on the night.

The Tigers played Saturday night without sophomore Svenja Engelhardt (Sinsheim, Germany) due to an abdominal strain on her left side. Engelhardt will be unavailable for one to two weeks for the Tigers.

Pacific concludes its play in the Oregon State / Asics Classic on Sunday, Sept. 7 at 12 p.m. against No. 17 Colorado State.