Stockton, Calif. - Playing on their home turf and in front of a national audience, the Pacific women's volleyball team could not come up with a signature upset of No. 19 BYU as the Cougars held on to take a 3-1 win on Thursday, Oct. 24. The loss for the Tigers dropped their record to 11-10 overall and 4-6 in WCC play while the Cougars stayed perfect in conference matches at 10-0 while posting a 17-3 record on the year. 

Set scores for the match were: 25-20, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23.

From the first point to the last point of the night the Tigers were up to the challange of taking on the best team in the WCC as Pacific had its chances to come away with the upset only to be denied in the end. For the Tigers, the difference in the match proved to be their own mistakes as unforced errors unraveled Pacific's efforts as the Cougars capitalized when given the opportunity.

Set one set up the framework for the entire match as too many unforced errors changed the course of the opening frame and set up the final margin of victory for the Cougars. In the set, the Tigers committed seven hitting errors to the Cougars two which allowed BYU to open up an early six point lead from which the Tigers would not recover from despite the best efforts of Pacific's pin hitters. Led by senior Megan Birch's five kills and just one error, the Tigers' pins tagged the Cougars for 11 kills on just two mistakes, but were matched swing for swing by the Cougars on the outside.

A set later, it was the same mistakes late the did in the Tigers while the Cougars came up with the kills they needed to close out the frame. In the set, Pacific rallied from down 19-14 behind the inspired play of junior Gillian Howard who picked up three straight blocks to close the gap to just one point at 19-18. However, that would be as close as Pacific would come as Kathryn LeCheminant answered the run with a pair of kills to put the Tigers away.

Down two sets to none, Pacific came out of the break looking like a new team as the Tigers came out on fire with a 7-1 run to open a healthy early lead on the Cougars at 10-6. With the early lead and their veterans guiding the way, Pacific was able to hold off a late charge by BYU. Again, it was Howard the sparked the early run by Pacific with a pair of kills and a pair of blocks while it was her middle mate, senior Jennifer Sanders who guarded the lead with five kills on eight swings.

Looking to push the match into a fifth set, the Tigers had plenty of chances to rally in set four, only to cost themselves critical points with three late service aces. The mental mistakes proved to be too much to overcome despite an epic performance out of freshman libero Lexi Elman who tallied 10 digs in the fourth set alone to keep Pacific's hopes alive. The freshman was all over the court trying to stave off elimination as she completed the four-set match with a Pacific freshmen record for digs in a match with 30. Despite Elman's efforts, and a rejuventated attack at the pins, the Tigers' play was not enough to win the back-and-fourth battle.

Overall, Elman's 30 digs was a match-high as the freshman's career effort tied for the ninth most digs in a single match in Pacific program history. Outside of Elman's efforts, Howard just missed her second career double-double as she posted 10 kills and eight blocks. Birch ended her night with a season-best 19 kills on 54 swings while sophomore Anne-Sophie Bauer and Sanders each added 12 kills. Bauer tallied her second double-double of the year as she posted 10 digs to go along with her double-digit kills. Sophomore setter Kimmy Whitson picked up her team-best sixth double-double with 53 assists and 14 digs to go along with six kills and four blocks.

The Cougars were led by Alexa Grey who posted 14 kills on 42 attacks. LeCheminant ended the match with 11 kill on .370 hitting while posting a team-best eight blocks. Along with LeCheminant, Hannah Robinson and Tambre Haddock each tallied 11 kills while Haddock posted a team-best 23 digs.

Pacific is back in action on Saturday, Oct. 26 at home against No. 9 San Diego. The match is scheduled for 1:00 pm and is the Tigers' annual Pacific Plays Pink match in support of breast health awareness.