Pacific Tigers fall to Matadors in an MPSF match – Volleyball news
Men’s volleyball team of Pacific University, the Tigers, dropped the decision in five-set match against Cal State Northridge on Friday night.
The visiting Matadors of California State proved to be better and posted 3-2 (22-25, 25-18, 26-24, 22-25, 15-13) victory. Following a great win, Matadors improved to overall record of 11-15 and 7-12 MPSF record. On the other hand, Tigers fell to a 7-18 in
the season.
Freshman outside hitter of Cal State Northridge Julius Hoefer played an important role in his team’s success. He tallied match-high 26 kills, while opposite Brandon Lebrock notched up 15 kills in the match. On Pacific side, junior Taylor Hughes put up a
good effort and helped the Tigers with 19 kills. Meanwhile, senior Florian Gornik also touched double-figure score and added 12 kills
The home team had a competitive edge of playing at familiar court and emotional support of fans was a plus point for them. They made good use of their skills and tried to drag the opponent under pressure. Tigers added the first few points of the match and
kept their lead until the set points at 25-22.
The start of the match was good for Pacific team but the resilient rival Matadors retaliated in the following set. The Cal State Northridge team came from different angles and quickly built up a lead of 6-1. The hosts tried to resist but failed to stop the
raged-up Matadors. The second set portrayed a complete different picture as visiting team held the control of operation in hand. The Matadors posted 25-18 win over Pacific in the second set and levelled the score.
The third set featured a back and forth action between two teams as the scored tied for almost 11 times. The Tigers threw everything in attack to bounce back in the game but Matadors denied all their efforts. Third set turned into a heated competition and
Cal State managed to extend its lead to 2-1 by winning third set (26-24).
The match entered an interesting phase as Tigers tied the score at 2-2 after closing fourth set with better score. However, the home team lost the match as Cal State captured the final set of the match.
“Any win in the MPSF is a good win but anytime you win on the road in this conference is big,” said head coach Jeff Campbell. “We haven't had that many road wins this year and this was a big one. It was a gutsy win, both teams played really hard tonight.
Now we'll focus our attention on Stanford tomorrow night.”
Pacific is scheduled to meet No. 8 Long Beach State on Saturday. The Alex G. Spanos Centre will host the match, while the contest will take centre stage at 7:00 p.m. Likewise, the winning Cal State Northridge will return to action when they will take on
Stanford Cardinal. This is going to be the season finale for the Matadors.
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