THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Five-set matches proved to be the undoing of the Pacific Lutheran volleyball team, which came out on the wrong end of three of those matches at the Cal-Lu-fornia Invitational hosted by California Lutheran University.

After splitting a pair of Friday matches, including a five-set loss to Chapman and a three-set win over Whittier, the Lutes went the distance against La Verne and California Lutheran only to come out on the losing end. The two matches were played-back-to-back on Saturday afternoon and into the early evening.

The La Verne Leopards, who eliminated PLU from the NCAA postseason tournament one year ago, rallied from a first-set loss to take a 25-18, 25-22, 25-18, 22-25, 15-7 win over the Lutes during the afternoon session. With little rest, Pacific Lutheran came back to battle the tournament host team until the end before falling, 26-28, 27-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-13.

Statistics for the two matches were not immediately available.

With the two defeats, the No. 16-ranked Lutes wrap up the first two weeks of the pre-conference season with a 6-3 overall record. PLU opens its conference season next Friday when it hosts the Whitworth Pirates at 7 p.m. in Olson Auditorium.

- PLU -