October 21, 2007

Tigers back to beating Titans

By Jason Anderson
Record Staff Writer

STOCKTON - The Pacificwomen's volleyball team enjoyed a return to normalcy against Cal State Fullerton on Saturday night.

The Tigers won.

The Titans lost.

Order was restored in the Big West Conference.

Pacific swept Cal State Fullerton in three games, avenging an earlier loss with a 30-11, 30-25, 30-26 victory before a crowd of 1,103 at Spanos Center. The Game 1 win tied the team's largest margin of victory since the adoption of rally scoring in 2001, matching a 30-11 victory over George Washington on Sept. 7, 2001.

"We lost to them the first time, and we really felt we had more talent," junior outside hitter Kara Uhl said. "I think this game really proved that."

Uhl hit .486 with a match-high 18 kills, 12 digs and two aces for the Tigers, earning high praise from second-year Pacific coach Charlie Wade.

"She really was the dominant player in the match," said Wade, who recorded his first win over his alma mater.

Sophomore middle blocker Meagan MimMack hit .429 with 12 kills, and freshman Svenja Engelhardt had 10 kills and 12 digs. Junior setter Shannon Krug registered 42 assists, and senior libero Julie Magud had a match-high 22 digs.

"Obviously, the last game (against the Titans) didn't go the way we wanted, so we wanted to take care of business tonight," Magud said. "Last time, we didn't play our game. This time, we really wanted to prove ourselves."

The Tigers (13-5, 6-3 Big West) won their first 41 matches against Cal State Fullerton from 1984-2004, only six of which went more than three games. The Titans (10-10, 5-4) beat Pacific for the first time in 2004 and came into Saturday's contest having won four of the last five matchups, including a 3-1 victory on Sept. 22 in Fullerton.

The Titans have struggled since then, following their biggest win of the season with losses to Loyola Marymount, Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly. They defeated UC Santa Barbara in five games and lost to UC Irvine in four before posting five-game victories over UC Riverside and UC Davis, which are a combined 1-16 in conference play.

Their struggles continued, with the Tigers scoring nine of the first 10 points in Game 1 to take control.

"We knew we kind of let it slip away down there (in Fullerton)," Wade said. "We didn't have the defensive effort that it takes to beat a team like this. We did a much better job tonight. They couldn't score in the first game, and that kind of set the tone for the match."