FOREST GROVE, Ore. — It took two hours and 20 minutes of marathon effort before Pacific's volleyball team finally came up just two points short against Linfield on Wednesday night at the Stoller Center.
The Boxers five-match win streak came to an end in the 18-16 fifth set as they lost to Linfield in five sets for the second time this season. The Wildcats prevailed as the second round of Northwest Conference play began, 25-23, 20-25, 25-21, 21-25, 18-16.
Pacific fell to 7-10 overall and to 4-5 in conference play. Linfield improved to 7-11 and to 4-5 in the NWC.
The Boxers actually scored one more point on the night than the Wildcats did in a match that went back and forth and was completely even except for the final score.
Pacific jumped out to a 5-1 lead to begin the match but the Wildcats took control of the first set shortly after that. The visitors tied the match at 12-12 and then went on a 7-1 run and never trailed in the set again before winning it 25-23.
The Boxers rallied in set two after trailing 17-10, scoring 11 of the next 12 points to pull away for the 25-20 win. The Wildcats controlled the third set, leading from almost start to finish to claim the 25-21 win, and the fourth set was almost identical but flipped, with Pacific leading from start to finish to for the 25-21 edge.
In the wild fifth set, the two teams were tied at 5-5 and 10-10 before the visitors edged ahead to 13-11 and then 14-12. The Wildcats then had match points four different times with the Boxers going into denial mode in all four opportunities.
Finally, the visitors ended the night with kills from Jamie Talbo and Caiti Barrie to silence the frenzied Boxer crowed of 210.
Hannah Herbert led the home team with 15 kills, while
Marie Rewick and
Ciara Smith were also in double figures with 11 and 10 respectively.
Lia Zablan had 29 digs while Rewick added 22. Smith had three solo blocks and
Emily Farnham (28) and
Jamie Steach (20) shared the assist column.
Darian Stedman led the Wildcats with 16 kills and Molly McTaggart added 11. Courtney Uyeda led Linfield with 26 digs.
Pacific will continue a three-match home stand when they host Lewis & Clark on Saturday night, start time is 7 p.m.
