Jet Lag Catches Up With Boxers In Loss To Cavaliers
Box Score
FOREST GROVE – Playing in their fifth match in five days and still feeling the effects of their return flight from New York, Pacific could not get past a sluggish start Tuesday night and fell to Concordia (Ore.) in three sets, 25-14, 25-14, 25-23, in the Boxers' home volleyball opener at the Stoller Center.
Having arrived back from their trip to the Oneonta Invitational early Monday morning, the Boxers (3-2) showed signs of fatigue early in the match, committing 14 attack errors and four service errors in the first two sets. Pacific rebounded in the third frame, posting a .254 hitting percentage in the set. The Boxers had as much as a three-point lead a number of times in the third, but could not hold off a late Cavaliers' rally for the win.
Keahi Braginsky-Ahloo (So., Wahiawa, Hawaii) led the Boxers offensively with eight kills as the team finished with a .090 hitting percentage.
Kelsy Takashima (Sr., Kaunakakai, Hawaii) and
Alexa Block (Jr., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) finished with seven kills apiece.
Malea Webb (Fr., Spokane, Wash.) added 17 assists and
Jade Thompson (Jr., Marysville, Wash.) had nine digs.
Concordia (7-2) posted a solid .356 hitting percentage for the match, led by 10 kills from Aria Nojima. Lindsay Mangan added 35 assists and Aubrie Concannon had 11 digs.
After opening the first set with a small lead, the Boxers saw the first set slip away quickly as they handed the Cavaliers six of their first 10 points on attack errors. Melanie Miller put away back-to-back kills to give Concordia a 15-9 lead and Skyler Nakama followed by serving the Cavs to three winners, two on kills by Nojima and Clair Thiel, for a 19-10 lead. The visitors would stretch the advantage to as much as 11 points in taking the victory.
Pacific held a small lead early in the second set and led 7-5 off before the Cavaliers scored eight straight points. Montgomery had three kills in the stretch, which was also buoyed by two more attack errors, that put Concordia up 16-9. The Boxers would win just one more point off of their own serve the rest of the way.
The Boxers found a second wind in the third set, coming back from two down early to take a 10-6 lead Block's first kill of the frame. Concordia came right back to tie it, but the Boxers went up 17-14 on Webb's dump to the middle of the floor. The Cavs came back to tie the set at 20-20 on a block from Mangan and Mariah Raudsepp. The frame was still tied at 22-22 when another block and an ace put the Cavs up 24-22.
Mariah McHolland (So., Renton, Wash.) came up with the kill to bring Pacific back within one before Nojima put the match away.
Tonight's match was the Pacific's only home match in their first 11 of the season. The Boxers head south on Friday to play four matches in the Cal-Lu-Fornia Invitational in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
