Balanced Hitting Attack Secures Winning Volleyball Season
Box Score |
Coach Chan's Postgame Comments (Video)
FOREST GROVE – A balanced hitting attack from the entire starting lineup secured Pacific's first winning season in four years Friday as the Boxers rolled past Willamette in four sets, 25-15, 26-24, 19-25, 25-18, in Northwest Conference volleyball action at the Stoller Center.
Kelsy Takashima (Sr., Kaunakakai, Hawaii) and
Haley Bedell (Fr., Bothell, Wash.) each finished with 13 kills while
Mariah McHolland (So., Renton, Wash.) and
Keahi Braginsky-Ahloo (So., Wahiawa, Hawaii) had 11 kills apiece as the Boxers hit .238 for the match.
The win assures Pacific (13-11, 7-8 NWC) their first winning season under Head Coach Lena Chan and their first winning season since 2007, when the Boxers finished with a 14-9 record. Willamette dropped to 8-16, 5-10 NWC.
“This match showed the true resilience of our team,” Chan said. “We have experienced injury after injury and situation after situation over the last few matches. But through all of that struggle they kept learning, which added up to this win.”
In addition to her 13 kills, Takashima added four aces and three blocks. McHolland came up with four blocks.
Malea Webb (Fr., Spokane, Wash.) finished with 31 assists and
Jade Thompson (Jr., Marysville, Wash.) added 30 digs.
Danica Reed and Madisyn Leenstra each had 11 kills to lead the Bearcats. Emily Compton finished with 35 assists and Kathy Lee Glenn came up with 13 digs.
Pacific never trailed in the first set, committing just two attack errors while amassing an amazing .433 attack percentage. The Boxers rolled out to a 9-3 lead on a block by McHolland and Webb and then went up 16-8 on a Willamette attack error. The Bearcats came no closer than six points the rest of the way with McHolland giving the Boxers a 23-13 lead and Braginsky-Ahloo slamming home the final kill for the 25-15 win.
Willamette made a game of it in the second set, going up 9-6 early on Elizabeth Balding's service ace. The Boxers came back to take a 10-9 lead on their own on a block by Takashima and Braginsky-Ahloo. The lead seesawed from there with 15 ties and eight lead changes throughout the period. Willamette had the 24-23 lead when a service error gave new life to the Boxers. Takashima made sure things went the Boxers' way with a pair of kills that punctuated the 26-24 victory.
The Bearcats were on their attack in the third set while the Boxers struggled to find theirs. Willamette never trailed in the frame, building the 10-7 lead on a Pacific attack errors and used a string of seven unanswered points, three on Leenstra kills, to build and 18-8 advantage. Pacific won the next four points to come back within 18-12 and inched back to within 20-15 on a dump by Webb. Willamette held strong, though, and Reed closed it out at the end for a 25-19 victory.
The fourth set proved a game of runs, with the Boxers getting the final run to take the win. Pacific jumped out to an 11-7 lead on an attack error, but the Bearcats won the next four points to tie it up at 11-1 on a Kirsten Brehmer service ace. A Pacific attack error gave Willamette the short-lived 13-12 lead, with the Boxer taking it right back with three straight points for a 15-13 lead on a Bedell kill.
The score was tied 16-16 when the Boxers scored six straight points, highlighted by a kill and a block by McHolland.
Jowell Guerreiro (Fr., Kailua, Hawaii) had two of her four kills at the end, notching the Boxers' final two spikes to close the match.
Pacific closes the 2011 season on Saturday when they host Pacific Lutheran at 7 p.m. Willamette closes their season tomorrow as well, hosting Puget Sound.
