TACOMA - For the second time in three matches this year, Pacific
Lutheran rolled to a three-set volleyball victory over the Puget
Sound Loggers at the UPS Fieldhouse. Wednesday night's 25-15,
25-12, 25-23 win came in Northwest Conference play, however, giving
the defending champion Lutes a perfect 3-0 mark in the conference
while the Loggers dropped to 2-1 in the NWC.
The match featured two nationally ranked teams as the host
Loggers came into the contest ranked No. 15 and the Lutes No.
19 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III Top
25 poll. During the first weekend of the season at the Puget Sound
Premier tournament, the Lutes swept the Loggers in three sets
before UPS turned around and beat PLU in five for the
tournament championship.
With all of that as a backdrop, Pacific Lutheran (7-5 overall)
came out and dominated the Loggers (8-3 overall) through the first
two sets before holding off a determined UPS squad in the third
set.
The Lutes started out on fire in the first and second sets and
blitzed the Loggers with easy wins. In the first set, the Lutes
scored the first three points on kills by Kelsie Moore, Beth Hanna
and Kelcy Joynt. Katy Tauscher added a pair of kills and Joynt
recorded a service ace as PLU took an 11-1 lead. The lead was still
at 10 points, 15-5, when Puget Sound cut its deficit to 16-10 on
Erika Greene's kill. PLU regained the momentum on Hanna's ensuing
kill and closed out the set on Erin Bremond's crushing cross court
kill.
Junior setter Sarah Beaver spread the wealth in the first set,
recording 14 assists as six different players recorded kills, led
by Hanna and Tauscher with four each. PLU had 15 kills and hit .282
in the first set while UPS managed just eight kills and a .062
attack percentage.
The second set was much of the same as the Lutes raced out to a
12-2 lead with Hanna providing three kills during the run, and soon
the score was 17-5 on Moore's kill. The Loggers didn't break double
figures until the Lutes had already scored 22 points, and Bremond
again finished the set with a kill. PLU hit an incredible .500 in
the second set with 18 kills and only three errors in 30 attempts.
By the end of the second set Hanna already had 12 kills, while
Tauscher had kills on seven of her eight swings.
Puget Sound, unable either to stop the Lutes' attack or get
its own offense going in the first two sets, finally got untracked
in the third set, leading most of the way. In fact, the Loggers
held a 19-16 lead when the Lutes won back the serve and went on to
score four straight points on Brenna Archibald's serve to take a
21-19 lead. With the score tied at 23-23, Joynt pounded a kill in
the middle of the court, her sixth of the set, and a Puget Sound
attack error ended it as the Lutes chopped down the country's
No. 15-ranked squad. Moore added four kills and hit .571 in the
final set.
Against one of the nation's best teams, the Lutes hit .337 for
the match, including an incredible .700 by Tauscher who finished
with eight kills and one error on 10 attempts. Hanna led the Lutes
with 14 kills and hit .333 while Moore had nine kills and hit .368.
Beaver finished with 40 assists during the match. On the defensive
side, PLU recorded three solo blocks and six block assists and also
notched 50 digs, 14 by Hanna and 10 more by Joynt.
Bre Boyce led the Loggers with 10 kills and hit .368, and as a
team the hosts hit .140 after a slow start in the first two sets.
Pacific Lutheran returns to Northwest Conference action at 7
p.m. Friday when it faces the Linfield Wildcats in McMinnville,
Ore.
- PLU -
