t was the first game action in the Stoller Center for a while on Thursday night as the Pacific volleyball set their spring 2021 season in motion with a Northwest Conference matchup against Willamette. 
 
The Boxers had a fight on their hands from the Bearcats but were able to take the four-set win 25-19, 26-24, 23-25, 25-17. 
 
The first set saw the Boxers take the early lead and midway through the set push the advantage to seven leading 18-11. Boxers used that lead to push to the first set win getting a Nanea Lum kill to finish the set out 25-19. 
 
It looked like momentum continued for Pacific in set two as the Boxers went up 15-6 in set two but the contest was worked to a tie by Willamette at 20-20 and would need extra points to decide it with Eika Unti delivering an ace to cap the second set 26-24. 
 
The lead changed hands multiple times in the third set with Willamette going up 20-16 but the Boxers answered with a 5-0 run to regain the lead only to see the Bearcats finish the set on a 5-2 run to give them the third set 25-23. 
 
On to the fourth set where the Boxers finished the contest growing the lead midway through the set on the way to the 25-17 set win to take the match. 
 
A trio of double-figure kills performances led Pacific as Unti registered 14 kills, Lum added 13 and Jordan Zweifel tallied 11. Zweifel made it a double-double night adding 11 digs, while Haley Walz at her libero position recorded 33 digs and Makena Mahuna chipped 12 digs and had 43 assists. 
 
The Boxers move to 1-0 on the season and are back on the court against Willamette again on Friday, March 5^th at 7:00 pm in Salem.