Wild Match Ends With Lutes Beating Saints
In a wild match that saw the teams battle into a drawn-out fifth set, Pacific Lutheran rallied to defeat the visiting Saint Martin's Saints, 25-15, 24-26, 15-25, 25-12, 22-20, in a non-conference volleyball match played Tuesday night in Olson Auditorium.
With the victory, the Lutes improve their record to 11-2. Saint Martin's is now 3-9 this season.
The Lutes seemed well on the way to a quick victory with a first set victory and a 24-16 lead in the second set. But it all fell apart at that point following a PLU service error as Saint Martin's rallied for the final 10 points and a 26-24 win. Kristeen Juarez served the final nine points which came on four kills and five PLU errors.
Saint Martin's maintained its momentum with a convincing 25-15 rout in the third set, but the Lutes refused to fold, dominating the fourth set. Rose Mattson served six straight points to help the Lutes build a 21-10 lead.
The deciding set was a battle between the two squads. Saint Martin's built an 11-7 lead, only to see the Lutes score three straight points to get back in it. The teams went back-and-forth until PLU finally won it when Samantha North's serve hit the net and somehow fell on the Saint Martin's side for the deciding point.
Kristyn Ross pounded out 24 hits and finished with a .222 attack percentage for the Saints, who also got 13 kills from Kristeen Juarez, 27 digs from Brianna Bautista and three solo blocks and five block assists from Katy Ferguson.
Bethany Huston led the Lutes with 13 kills, four solo blocks and seven block assists. North had 43 assists and Blair Bjorkman added 33 digs for the winners.
- PLU -