October 23, 2007

Freshman's big numbers expected to get better

By Jason Anderson
Record Staff Writer

Outside hitter Svenja Engelhardt has emerged as a force in her first season at Pacific, but women's volleyball coach Charlie Wade believes she can be even better.

The freshman has recorded a team-high 45 aces. She leads the Big West Conference and ranks fourth in Division I with 0.80 aces per game, but with 46 service errors, Wade believes Engelhardt has room for improvement.

Engelhardt demonstrated Wade's point last weekend. On Friday, she had four aces on five service attempts in the second game against Cal State Bakersfield and, on Saturday, finished with zero aces and three service errors against Cal State Fullerton.

"We have spent some time with Svenja kind of working on the nuts and bolts of her pre-service routine," Wade said. "Even though she's put up great numbers, I think you're going to see her be more consistent the rest of the year."

The Tigers (13-5, 6-3 Big West) play Friday at Cal Poly (14-7, 8-1) and Saturday at UC Santa Barbara (7-14, 2-7).

Get your tix

Tickets are available for the final rounds of the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship in Sacramento. The Final Four will be held Dec. 13 and 15 at ARCO Arena. Information: (916) 649-TIXS or www.sacsports.com.

Holding out hope

The women's soccer team suffered a costly loss to UC Irvine on Friday. The Tigers (6-6-3, 1-3-1 Big West) fell into seventh place with four points. Meanwhile, the Anteaters (9-5-1, 3-1) added another victory over UC Davis on Sunday, bounding from seventh place into a tie for third.

The top-four teams in the regular season qualify for the Big West tournament. The Tigers likely need to win their three remaining games to stay in contention. They will play UC Santa Barbara (5-8-3, 2-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Stagg Memorial Stadium before concluding the regular season at Cal Poly (5-8-1, 3-1) and UC Davis (6-9, 1-4).

"We have three more games, and anything can happen," senior forward Mandi Van Dorn said. "We've been in worse situations before and been to the tournament, so we're still thinking positive."

Camps and clinics

Pacific will hold a series of youth baseball camps in November, December and January at Klein Family Field. Costs and age ranges vary. Information: Jim Yanko, (209) 946-2386 or jyanko@pacific.edu; Wes Yourth, (209) 946-7309 or wyourth@pacific.edu.