CLAREMONT, Calif.--The Pacific volleyball team ran into double trouble in dropping a pair of matches on Friday at the Pacific Coast Classic hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

The Boxers began the day with a loss to the host Athenas, 25-12, 25-17, 25-14, and then fell to Occidental 25-16, 25-18, 25-17. Both teams reside in the NCAA Division III Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Against the No. 8 nationally ranked Athenas, the hosts hit a blistering .383 and made life difficult for the Boxers. Morgan Mendicino had eight kills to pace Coach Kip Yoshimura's team and Tiare Kaopua added seven. Setter Emily Farnham added 21 assists and seven digs.

CMS improved to 2-0 with the victory while the Boxers fell to 0-2.

The match was much tighter against Occidental as Pacific held leads in sets two and three. In the second set, the Boxers bolted out to a 5-3 lead but the Tigers went on a 6-0 run to erase the deficit. In the third set, PU had a 11-6 lead after a Mendicino ace and still held a 14-11 edge a few moments later. The Tigers battled back to tie the match at 17-17 and then finished the match with an 8-0 run to capture the set and the match.

Kaopua led all players with 11 kills and Farnham had 23 assists. Liz Zablan paced the defense with 12 digs. Occidental moved to 1-1 on the year and Pacific fell to 0-3.

"We were a litle overwhelmed by two great teams," Yoshimura summized. "At the same time, we are getting better with each match"

Pacific will continue action at the Pacific Coast Classic on Saturday, taking on LeTourneau (Tex.) at 9 a.m. and will wrap up tournament play with a 11 a.m. match-up with La Verne.