Stockton, Calif. - In a tale of two halves, the Tigers were stunned at home by 15th ranked BYU as the Cougars pulled off the improbable comeback to down Pacific, 3-2, on Thursday night at the Alex G. Spanos Center. BYU was able to capture the final three sets of the contest to improve to 14-2 on the year and 4-1 in the WCC while the Tigers lost back-to-back matches for the first time in 2015 to fall to 13-5 overall and 3-3 in conference play. The match was just the Tigers' second home match of the season after playing 15 of their first 16 matches on the road.

Set scores for the match: 20-25, 18-25, 25-16, 25-14, 15-8. 

For the first two sets of the night, the Tigers looked like world-beaters on the offensive side of the ball as Pacific's one-two punch of Lexi Elman and Alicja Wilk had their way with the Cougars' defense. All that would change out of the break as BYU adjusted to the Tigers' speed, finding the vaunted block that made the 2014 NCAA runners-up a national title contender coming into the year. From the third set on, the Cougars clamped down on Pacific's hitters, registering 14 of their season-best 19.0 blocks to turn the tides of the match and come up with their comeback win.  

Feeding off the energy of the nearly 1,300 fans in attendance at the Spanos Center, the Tigers came out firing both inside and out to keep the BYU defense off balance. Registering kills from Elman and Wilk, Pacific was able to push out to an early lead, but saw the Cougars hang close thanks to a handful of service errors. The mistakes would allow BYU to briefly rally midway through the set, taking a two-point lead at 17-15, before Pacific went on a scoring binge to flip the set with a 6-1 run. The Tigers would close the set scoring 10 of the final 13 points to take the early match advantage. 

With Elman and Wilk combining for 12 of the Tigers' 16 first set kills, Pacific continued the winning formula in the second set, pushing out to a quick four-point advantage at 6-2 and never looking back. Again, it was Elman who pushed the pace for the Tigers as the junior came up with eight kills on 16 swings while defensively, sophomore libero Katrin Gotterba kept the floor clean for Pacific with 10 of the Tigers' 22 digs in the set. In addition to Elman, the Tigers' got help from sophomore Maycie LaBass, who came up with five kills on just six attacks as Pacific hit .293 to the Cougars' .100.

Holding two sets in hand and heading to the break, Pacific looked to be in prime position to hand the Cougars just their third loss of the season. Early in the third, the match slowly evened out as the two teams traded points with the Cougars holding a slight advantage at 11-10 despite Pacific having posted a pair of blocks to the Cougars' one. All would change in the blink of an eye as BYU turned up the defensive pressure on the Tigers, turning a one-point lead into a five-point advantage thanks to three blocks, two coming from the tandem of Whitney Howard and Cosy Burnett while Howard assisted on the third block as well. The sudden shift in momentum allowed the Cougars to run away with the set, quieting the home crowd. 

Out of the gate in the fourth set, the Cougars picked up where they left off in the third as they came up with three-straight blocks to capture an early 6-1 lead. Again it was Howard who had her hands on all three blocks while again partnering with Burnett on two of the three defensive stops. The Tigers would never find their footing in the set as the early advantage continued to grow for the Cougars with BYU finishing the set with five blocks to go with an offensive attack that made just one mistake while posting 12 kills on 33 swings.

Forced into a fifth and decisive set, there was a glimmer of hope for the Tigers that they may be able to stop the surge long enough to capture the shortened contest as Pacific came up with the first two points of the set, including an ace by Wilk that reenergized the crowd. Again, it was not to be as the veteran Cougars used a 4-0 run to break open the final set, scoring a pair of points with the block, before finishing the Tigers off to complete the comeback.

Overall, the Tigers saw their junior ace finish with a match-best 23 kills, but to do so, Elman was forced to take a career-high 69 swings in the match. She would add 12 digs to the Tigers' defensive efforts that were led by Gotterba who came up with a season-best 25 digs on the night. LaBass would add to her double-double collection as well as she posted 12 kills and 13 digs while Wilk finished her night with 12 kills to go with three blocks.

For the Cougars, the match turned thanks to a season-best 19.0 blocks led by Howard who finished with 12 total. Burnett would add a career-best eight to go along with six kills. Offensively, all-american Alexa Gray finished with a team-best 14 kills on 63 swings while Amy Boswell chipped in 13 on a tidy .400 hitting. In addition to the block, the Cougars comeback could be linked to a pair of replacements in the lineup as senior setter Camry Willardson replaced sophomore Aloha Robins-Hardy late in the second set and finished with 29 assists to go with seven digs, three kills, and three blocks while leading the Cougars to .304 hitting over the final three sets. Additionally, Lacy Haddock finished the match on the outside for the Cougars with six kills on .455 hitting in place of Veronica Jones who exited after the second set having hit -.111 in nine swings. Haddock would also provide a spark defensively with 12 digs and two blocks.

The Tigers will look to rebound on Saturday against San Diego as the Toreros come to town for a 12:00 pm tilt at the Spanos Center. The Toreros defeated Saint Mary's in four on Thursday night to move to 4-1 in conference play, their lone loss coming to BYU last week.