Malibu, Calif. - Led by their young guns, the Tigers took home a 3-1 victory on the road at Pepperdine on Thursday, Nov. 20 to keep pace in the WCC race. Pacific improved to 22-7 overall and 11-5 in the WCC as they held tight at the top in second place with LMU while the Waves fell to 11-17 on the year and 6-10 in conference play. 

Set scores for the match were: 21-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-20.

Struggling with her efficiency over the past few matches, sophomore Lexi Elman had no such struggles on the road at Firestone Fieldhouse as the second-year attack made the road gym fell like home in arguably her finest offensive match of her young career. Finding holes throughout the night, Elman, playing in front of her parents who flew out from Nebraska, came up with a match-best 21 kills on a whopping .500 attack percentage. Elman's huge night bolstered the Tigers' attack that steadily caught fire throughout the night to finish hitting .328 (61-17-134).

The Tigers looked to bury the Waves early but a handful of mistakes let Pepperdine go on an 8-1 run early that turned an 8-4 lead into a 12-9 hole. Despite getting back to even midway through the set at 15-15, the damage was already done as the Waves used the confidence from the big run to push back out ahead by four and carry them the rest of the way. The Tigers would close to within two on multiple occasions but were never able to completely overcome the deficit they faced late in the set. 

Down a set, the Tigers fell back on their strength to get back into the match as Pacific's defense came together to put an end to the Waves' offensive outburst from the opening set. Putting a Tiger in every hitting ally, Pacific began to frustrate the Waves into mistakes on the offensive end that helped the Tigers turn a two point lead into a seven-point cushion at 17-10. Defensively, the set was dominated at the net by the Tigers as Pacific came up with 4.0 blocks. Anything that found its way through was cleaned up by freshman Katrin Gotterba who vacuumed up an impressive 10 digs in the set alone. In addition to the defense, Elman found her groove as she went for eight kills on 12 swings to put the Waves away.

After using their defense to smother the Waves in the second set, Pacific used its offense to outrun Pepperdine in the third as both teams swung freely in the fight to 25. Never leading by more than three throughout much of the frame, the Tigers were forced to claw for the momentum swinging victory in set three as Pacific balanced its attack to do their damage. Behind five kills a piece from Elman and junior Kat Schulz, the Tigers were able to hit .400 in the set against the Waves to keep themselves just out front of Pepperdine throughout the frame. Pacific would close the set with a 3-0 run finished off by sophomore Alicja Wilk's fourth kill of the set.

Locked in another offensive battle in the fourth, the Tigers finally put away the pesky Waves with a late 7-2 run that turned a tiny 15-13 lead into a comfortable 22-15 advantage. During the run, the Tigers picked up kills from all five of their attacking arms, spreading the wealth throughout the offense. The seven-point cushion would be enough to hold off a late charge by Pepperdine as the Waves closed to within three before Pacific put the match away. 

Schulz finished off her 12th double-double of the year and ninth of the conference season in a solid two-way effort as she posted 12 kills to go along with 11 digs. In addition to Schulz' double-double, freshman Andie Shelton came up with her fifth double-double of the year with 29 assists to go along with 10 digs. Defensively, Gotterba finished with 26 digs, marking her sixth match of the year the first-year libero went over the 20-dig threshold. On the blocking front, the Tigers ended with 10.5 blocks as junior captain Kimmy Whitson gave herself a birthday gift by tying her career high with seven blocks. Senior Gillian Howard continued her excellent efficiency at the net as she posted 10 kills on .421 hitting to go along with six blocks. 

Pepperdine was led by Samantha Cash who finished with 12 kills on .345 attacking to go with a team-best four blocks. Jillian Bergeson added 11 kills as the Waves hit .201 after being held to .000 hitting the last time out against the Tigers. 

The Tigers finish the weekend road trip with a showdown for second place at LMU on Saturday, Nov. 22 in the penultimate match of the 2014 regular season. The match is scheduled for 12:00 pm at the Gersten Pavilion and can be watched live online courtesy of LMULions.com.