October 5, 2007

Tigers look forward after rough road trip

By Jason Anderson
Record Staff Writer

STOCKTON - The last road trip didn't go so well for the Pacific women's volleyball team. The Tigers were asked to leave Titan Gym one night and blown out the next, falling in four games to Cal State Fullerton roughly 24 hours after being asked to leave the premises in accordance with Big West Conference rules.

With both episodes behind them, the Tigers again are hitting the highway, hoping for better results.

Pacific will play UC Irvine (12-6, 2-1 Big West) at 7 p.m. today at Crawford Court before concluding the trip Saturday against UC Riverside (4-10, 0-3). The Tigers (9-3, 3-1) bounced back in a big way following the loss to Cal State Fullerton, beating UC Santa Barbara and then-No. 20 Cal Poly last weekend at Spanos Center to thrust themselves back into contention.

Pacific is tied for first place with Cal Poly and Long Beach State, a half-game ahead of UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Northridge. UC Irvine is coming off a five-game loss to No. 4 USC and looks like a legitimate contender for an NCAA Tournament bid, giving today's matchup added importance.

Middle blocker Johanna Hilbers hopes her team can generate the same intensity it demonstrated last weekend.

"It would be great to be able to come out on the road and play with the passion that we have at home," Hilbers said. "Sometimes it's harder to get pumped up for matches when you're not in front of your home crowd."

The Tigers would rather not have a repeat of the scouting and video fiascos. A Big West official said the conference does not comment on compliance issues. According to Mike Dalgety, assistant director of compliance at Pacific, neither incident prompted a reprimand or sanctions.

Pacific coach Charlie Wade received a warning letter after failing to upload video of his team's win over UC Santa Barbara to a video exchange Web site by the deadline of noon the next day.

Wade said the technology is in its infancy and described the problem as a "technical glitch."

The Big West also sent an e-mail to all coaches clarifying its rule against in-person scouting after Pacific players were asked to leave Titan Gym before a match between UC Davis, their travel partner, and Cal State Fullerton. NCAA rules prohibit coaches from scouting outside of tournament play, but a Big West bylaw is meant to prohibit players from scouting as well.

"That was my fault," Wade said. "The girls asked if they could go, and I said they could go.

"I told our administration about it, and they were under the impression they could go, too. None of us realized it was a conference bylaw."