Areta Leads The Way As Boxers Beat Deacons, Wolves

Areta Leads The Way As Boxers Beat Deacons, Wolves

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By Blake Timm '98, Sports Information Director

Pacific/New Hope Christian Box Score | Pacific/Walla Walla Box Score

FOREST GROVE – After a quiet opening day, Una Areta (So., Kent, Wash.) came alive Saturday to lead Pacific to a pair of volleyball wins over New Hope Christian and Walla Walla at the Stoller Center.
 
Areta finished with 33 kills and 11 digs in the two matches as the Boxers evened their record to 2-2 on the season.  She opened the day with 17 kills in a three-set victory over the Deacons before adding 16 kills in a three-set sweep over Walla Walla.
 
PACIFIC DEF. NEW HOPE CHRISTIAN 25-8, 25-12, 25-23
Pacific blistered the Deacons from the opening rally, blasting 12 kills and amassing a .500 hitting percentage in the opening set.  For their part, New Hope Christian did their part to hurt themselves, committing five errors in the frame against just three kills.
 
The Boxers won the first seven points, including two of Zablan's eight aces on the afternoon.  Pacific entended the lead to 15-4 on Jamie Steach's (So., Pasco, Wash.) dump.  New Hope won the next two points before the Boxers closed out the frame with a pair of four-point runs.  Zablan closed the set with four straight aces.
 
Pacific continued to turn up the heat in the second set, with Zablan using two more aces to open up the early 4-1 lead.  The Boxers steadily picked up the points, eventually taking a 15-7 lead on a Deacons' attack error.  New Hope cut the advantage to 15-9 before the Boxers closed by winning eight of the final 12 points, with Chloe Lindgren (Fr., Williams, Ore.) smashing the final kill.
 
New Hope found new life in the third set and the Boxers found themselves trailing 12-8 after four attack errors fueled a six-point Deacons run.  A string of three New Hope attack errors gave Pacific the lead 13-12, but the Deacons came back to put together another five-point run for an 18-14 advantage.  Areta tied the frame at 20-20 and Grace Sporer (Fr., Medford, Ore.) brought the Boxers back to a 23-23 tie before an attack error and an Areta kill finally closed it out in favor of Pacific.
 
Areta finished with a season-high 17 kills and a .394 hitting percentage.  Zablan's eight aces finished one short of the school single match record.  Steach added 25 assists.  Pacific finished the day hitting .165 as a team.  Zoe Morelli led New Hope Christian with three kills while Teone Farley-Mahoe finished with 13 digs.
 
PACIFIC DEF. WALLA WALLA 25-23, 25-17, 26-24
Pacific needed another strong match from Areta to hold off a scrappy Walla Walla team looking for their first win of the season.  Areta finished the match with 16 kills and a .261 hitting percentage.  Pacific finished the match hitting .170 as a squad.  Haley Bedell (Jr., Bothell, Wash.) added eight kills and eight digs.
 
After jumping out to an early 3-0 lead, Pacific found themselves in a battle with the Wolves in the opening set.  Walla Walla came right back to tie things at 3-3 and went ahead 10-8 on a pair of Pacific attack errors.  The scored was tied at 18-18 when the Wolves scored five straight points, two off of blocks, to take a 22-18 advantage.
 
Pacific responded by winning the next six points, including three straight Haley Bedell (Jr., Bothell, Wash.) service aces, to take a 24-22 lead before Areta's kill closed the tight match out for the Boxers.
 
Pacific never trailed in the second set, but needed much of the frame to shake the Wolves.  After opening up a 9-5 lead on Areta's kill, Pacific watched the Wolves claw back to an 11-11 tie on a Pacific attack error.  The set was tied 13-13 when Pacific won five straight points, two on Bedell kills, to open the 18-13 advantage.  Walla Walla never won another point off their own serve as Pacific closed the frame winning six of the final 10 rallies.
 
It looked as if Pacific would run away with things in the third set, scoring nine straight points to open up an early 9-1 lead.  The Boxers made it a 14-4 advantage on Hannah Smargiassi's (Jr., Tualatin, Ore.) kill, but the Wolves bounced back to within 15-10 on a three Maria Darling kills and a pair of Pacific attack errors.  The Wolves continued their rally, tying the set at 23-23 on Rylee Sutton's kill and forced extra points when Perri Shanko's kill made it 24-24.  Pacific closed out the win with an Areta kill and an attack error.
 
Darling led Walla Walla with nine kills while Shanko and Lauren Barlow had six kills apiece.
 
Pacific will play their next five matches on the road, beginning with a Wednesday meeting at Northwest Christian followed by three matches in the Bay Area.  Walla Walla plays a pair of matches at the Stoller Center on Sunday, facing Evergreen State and Oregon Tech.
 
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