Oct. 14, 2011
Fullerton, Calif. - Power hitter Samantha Misa had 13 kills and hit .370 to lead Pacific to a 3-0 sweep (26-24, 25-23, 25-19) of Cal State Fullerton in Big West Conference action Friday night at Titan Gym.
The loss was the third in a row for the Titans as they fall to 8-10 overall and 3-3 in Big West play. It also snapped the Titans' home conference winning streak at six matches. Pacific wins its third in a row and seventh in its last 11 and improves to 13-7, 4-3.
Kayla Neto had 13 kills, 11 digs and four blocks to lead the Titans statistically, but the highlight of the night for Fullerton was when senior setter Andrea Ragan set a new school record for career assists in the middle of the first set. Ragan finished the night with 31 assists, upping her career total to 3,930 over 353 career sets. Ragan passed the former record holder Julie Geissert (3,907 in 361 sets) in eight fewer sets with a majority of the Titans' conference slate still ahead of her. She is poised to become the first Titan to reach the 4,000 assist plateau.
The Titans had a rough night at the service line, committing 12 service errors to go along with 17 attack errors. They had just three aces to counter the miscues. Pacific, on the other hand, had four aces and just 6 errors.
The conference's third-best hitting team out-hit the Titans .229 to .179 and were led by Jennifer Sanders (.421) and Misa. Neto was the Titans best overall hitter at .257. Leah Best hit .364 but had just five kills in 11 swings.
Megan Birch (11) and Sanders (10) flanked Misa in the kill department for the Tigers. Bre Moreland had 12 kills for Fullerton in support of Neto.
The Titans will face UC Davis Saturday night in Titan Gym beginning at 7 p.m.