Malibu, Calif. - Playing their 15th match of the year on the road the travel finally caught up to the Tigers as they could not finish off a comeback at the Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday, Oct. 3, falling in five to Pepperdine to close out their week of action. For Pacific, the loss was just the fourth of the season for the Tigers as they fell to 12-4 on the year and 3-2 in WCC play while the Waves improved to 10-6 overall and 2-2 in the conference.

Set scores for the match were: 20-25, 25-20, 25-23, 18-25, 15-11.

Needing just a few points to kick into gear, the Tigers broke open the first set of action at the Fieldhouse with an 8-0 run that turned a two points deficit into a comfortable 13-7 advantage. Pacific was able to establish control of the net early with three blocks, two off the play of redshirt-sophomore Alex Holt. Additionally, the service game got rolling for the Tigers early as junior Lexi Elman came up with three aces during the eight-point run that put a punctuation point on the rally. Pacific would push its lead to as much as eight in the set before Pepperdine rallied late to cut the final deficit to five. In all, the Tigers came up with five blocks and four aces to put the Waves away. 

In a change of direction from the first set, the Tigers found themselves down 12-7 in the second set as the Waves took control early against Pacific. With the lead cushioned, the Tigers could only close the gap to one at 12-11 before three-straight Wave points, including a pair of blocks led by Becca Strehlow, put the Tigers away for good. Pacific would not be able to close the gap again as Pepperdine kept the Tigers at arms length the rest of the way to tie the match at one-set a piece. Just as the Tigers had done in the first set, it was the Waves' block that was the difference in the second set as Pepperdine came up with four blocks of their own to turn the tides of the momentum. 

Despite jumping out to a 6-1 lead and holding a six-point advantage at 11-5, the Tigers could not hold off the Waves in the third set as Pepperdine used a defensive shell in the back row to post a 7-1 rally of their own to overcome the early deficit. In what became a set of runs, neither side could completely separate late from the other until a final 2-0 spurt by the Waves at 23-23 proved to be the difference. 

Looking to get back into the match and trailing by three at 10-7, the Tigers scored the next five points to push in front of the Waves for the first time in the set. The lead would be short-lived for the Tigers as Pepperdine evened the match at 14-14. However, the Tigers would not let the fourth set be a repeat of the third as Pacific put the Waves away using a 7-2 run that gave Pacific a five-point cushion late that would turn into the seven-point win. Propelling the run for the Tigers was sophomore Maycie LaBass and junior Alicja Wilk who each came up with seven of the points for the Tigers, three on kills by LaBass and four from Wilk on a combination of kills and blocks.

After using every bit of energy to force the match to five, the comeback was not in the cards for the Tigers as Pacific could not get out of its own way to start the fifth as an array of hitting errors spotted the Waves a 5-0 start that would hold the remainder of the set in the race to 15. Pacific would close to within two at 11-9, but they would get no closer as the Waves were able to side out the rest of the way for the win, ending the match on an ace.

In all, the Tigers saw four different players post double-doubles in the match as Elman led all attackers with a match-best 20 kills to go with 12 digs. LaBass went for 15 kills and posted 15 digs while senior setter Kimmy Whitson just missed the triple-double as she posted 41 assists and 12 digs to go with eight kills. In the back row, sophomore Katrin Gotterba posted her first-ever double-double as Pacific's libero led the Tigers with 19 digs to go with a career-best 10 assists.

On the other side of the net, Nikki Lyons led the attack with 17 kills on 40 swings to go with seven digs and three blocks. Beside the freshman on the outside Gaby Palmeri chipped in 13 kills while Heidi Dyer added 12 kills and 12 digs. Strehlow, while guiding the offensive attack like Whitson also just missed a triple-double as the senior posted 45 assists and 20 digs to go with seven kills and a team-best six blocks.

As a team, Pacific posted a season-best 15.0 blocks in the loss led by Wilk who tallied six blocks. After struggling early, Wilk would finish her day with seven kills. The Waves tallied 12.0 total blocks in the match as neither team was able to crack the .200 threshold in hitting. 

Pacific will look to rebound on Thursday, Oct. 8 at home against the No. 15 ranked BYU Cougars in a nationally televised match at the Spanos Center. The match is scheduled for 8:00 pm to fit into the ESPNU television schedule.