PARKLAND - Pacific Lutheran and Willamette put on a classic Northwest Conference volleyball match for approximately 450 fans before the Lutes finally held off the visiting Bearcats in four sets on Friday night in Olson Auditorium.
With the 25-22, 20-25, 27-25, 25-19 victory, four-time defending conference champion PLU improves to 16-7 overall and to 10-3 in the NWC, one game behind co-leaders Whitworth and Puget Sound. With the loss, the Bearcats are now 8-15 overall and 4-10 in the NWC.
Willamette dominated at the net with 11 team blocks and it also outhit the Lutes, .168 to .142 for the match, but the Lutes scrapped and came out on top.
The Bearcats started out the first set as though the were going to skunk the Lutes, gaining an 8-0 lead on the strength of three kills and a service ace by Shannon Waltz. The Lutes aided the early Willamette run with three attack errors and a ballhandling error. Once Beth Hanna ended the run with a kill, the Lutes started to get back into the set.
Willamette still held a 15-7 lead before the Lutes finally tied it at 18-18 on Rose Mattson's service ace and then went ahead on a ballhandling error. The Bearcats took a 22-21 lead on a Carly Hargrave kill, but the Lutes scored the final four points to win it, ending it with consecutive service aces by Kelsie Moore.
The second set was close most of the way, though the Lutes had a pair of three-point leads on a couple of occasions. Leading 20-19, Willamette scored consecutive points on a PLU attack error and Kirsten Brehmer's kill. After Missy DeWalt put down a kill to pull the Lutes to within a point, the Bearcats closed it out with back-to-back kills by Hargrave and a PLU attack error. Hargrave, who had one kill in the first set, had five in the second.
PLU raced out to a 15-7 advantage in the third set, with Moore serving three straight service aces during the run. Willamette didn't quit, however, eventually tying the match at 18-18 with Hargrave and Molly Blankenship both contributing two kills during the run. The teams continued to trade points before Willamette pulled ahead 25-24 on a Lutes attack error. The Lutes didn't give up, however, tying it on Moore's kill, going up one on Beth Hanna's ace and then winning the set on a Willamette attack error.
In the deciding set, the Lutes again took an early lead, going up 15-8 on Erin Bremond's kill. The Bearcats were able to get to within three points late in the set, the last on Blankenship's kill that made it 22-19 for the Lutes. Again, PLU pulled it out on a pair of Bearcats attack errors on Allison Wood's kill.
Hargrave had give kills in each of the last three sets and finished with a match-best 16 kills, and she also hit .419. Blankenship added 11 kills. Brigit Miller had a good game running the offense with 40 kills, and she also tied Kath Lee Glenn for the team lead with 16 digs.
Willamette was particularly impressive at the net with 11 team blocks, including one solo and five assists by Hargrave.
Moore led PLU with 14 kills and she added seven of the Lutes' 14 service aces. Hanna finished with nine kills and Sarah Beaver had 38 assists and three aces. Blair Bjorkman had 17 digs in the win.
PLU returns to action at 7 p.m. Saturday night when it hosts George Fox, which swept conference-leading Puget Sound on Friday afternoon.
- PLU -
