FOREST GROVE, Ore. — Pacific rallied for a comeback win in the first set, setting the tone for the rest of the night during a straight sets victory over George Fox on Friday night at the Stoller Center, 25-23, 25-20, 25-16.
The win was the fourth in a row for the Boxers, who improved to 6-9 overall and to 3-4 in the Northwest Conference. The Bruins fell to 4-11 on the season and to 1-6 in conference play.
The Boxers trailed for almost the entire first set, including at 21-16 and 23-20. But the hosts roared back and scored the final five points of the set, including the last two digits off kills from
Ciara Smith and
Tiare Kaopua. Prior to that, with the score tied at 23-23, the Boxers saved two balls on the defensive side via great efforts from
Lia Zablan and
Marie Rewick.
"I am not sure what would have happened if we hadn't had won the first set," said Boxer head coach
Kip Yoshimura. "It was a great team effort, solid play from a lot of different people bringing us back."
Pacific led for most of set number two , pulling away from a 9-9 deadlock by scoring eight of the next nine points to never trail again (25-20). In the third set, Pacific again led from start to finish before closing out the match at 25-16.
Smith led the Boxers with 10 kills, hitting a sizzling .529. She also had a solo block and three block assists.
Hannah Smargiassi had eight kills and hit .538 and Kaopua added eight kills (.429). Emily Farhham (21 assists) and
Jamie Steach (19 assists) split that column, while Zablan paced the defense with 19 digs.
The Boxers will head to Tacoma tomorrow to take on Puget Sound at 7 pm.
"We will try and keep it going on the road," Yoshimura added. " We have been playing better and better after a slow start, but the key is to keep improving and moving forward. Hopefully we can do that tomorrow night."