Kelsie Moore celebrated her birthday in spectacular fashion Friday night in Olson Auditorium, leading Pacific Lutheran to a 25-17, 25-19, 25-14 Northwest Conference volleyball win over the visiting Linfield Wildcats.
Moore, a senior outside hitter from Oregon City, Ore., who earned 2010 all-conference first team honors, was at her best against the Wildcats, crushing a match-high 12 kills with no errors in 24 attempts. That, of course, figures out to a .500 attack percentage, her best of the year.
With Moore swinging at a high rate, and with senior middle blocker Erin Bremond continuing her recent outstanding play with 11 kills and a .600 attack rate, the 23rd-ranked Lutes (13-3 overall, 5-2 NWC) were simply too much for the 'Cats (7-9, 2-5) to handle.
PLU fell behind 2-0 in the first set, but immediately got things straightened out, eventually pulling away from a 4-4 tie. With Moore pounding two kills and Bremond adding one, PLU took a 12-6 lead before Linfield rallied with six straight points, five on Kelsey Ludin's serve. Bremond ended that 6-0 run with a kill, and the Lutes pulled away for good.
Linfield came out hot in the opening moments of the second set, taking a 5-0 lead on Samantha Lau's serve and forcing PLU head coach Kevin Aoki to call a time out. Victoria Thompson and Tara Hill both had kills to spearhead the quick start.
The Lutes rallied back and eventually tied the game at 8-8 on a service ace by Amber Aguiar. In fact, Aguiar's serve proved crucial as the Lutes scored six straight points, including kills by Bremond and Moore. Linfield rallied to tie the set at 11-11 when Thomson and Leimomi Hookana blocked Bremond at the net, but that was a close at the visitors would get.
PLU broke away from a 17-16 advantage on consecutive kills by Moore, and it finally wrapped up the second set when Bremond and Chelsea Nelson drove down kills.
For the third set in a row, Linfield took the early lead at 3-0, but once the Lutes went ahead 7-6 on a kill by Samantha North, they were not to be stopped. Holding a 13-12 lead, PLU closed out the match by scoring 12 of the final 14 points, with five of the points coming on Blair Bjorkman's serve.
With Moore and Bremond leading the way, the Lutes hit .320 as a team, including a convincing .368 mark in the third set. North finished with 33 assists, Bjorkman provided the winners with 19 digs, and Aguiar had three service aces. The Lutes continued their impressive play at the net with 11 team blocks, including five block assists by both Bremond and Bethany Huston.
For the Wildcats, Kailana Ritte-Camara led the way with eight kills, while Samantha Lau contributed 16 digs and Audrey Frazier 17 assists. The 'Cats managed to hit just .066 against PLU's strong defensive effort.
The Lutes return to conference action at 7 p.m. Saturday when they host the much-improved Pacific Boxers in Olson Auditorium.
- PLU -
