FOREST GROVE, Ore. - For awhile Saturday night, it looked like Kelsy Takashima and her Pacific Boxers teammates would be too much to overtake, but in the end Pacific Lutheran found a way to pull out a five-set Northwest Conference volleyball victory at the Stoller Center.
With the 13-25, 25-21, 25-18, 20-25, 15-12 win, the Lutes close out the regular season with a 21-5 overall record and a 13-3 conference mark, good for second place. Pacific sees its season come to an end at 13-12 overall and 7-9 in the conference.
Now, PLU plays a waiting game. The NCAA Division III national tournament selection committee will announced on Monday morning whether or not the Lutes have received an at-large bid to the national tournament, which starts next weekend with regional action around the country. Last year the Lutes tied Puget Sound for second place in the conference standings, both with 13-3 records, but PLU stayed home while the Loggers advanced to postseason play.
Takashima was on a one-player crusade to spoil things for the Lutes. She finished the match with 22 kills, only two errors and an incredible .556 attack percentage. To add to her impressive night, she picked up one solo block and five block assists. She didn't do it herself, however, as Mariah McHolland and Keahi Braginsky-Ahloo both had 12 kills. Malea Webb added 40 assists and Braginski-Ahloo led both teams with 22 digs.
The Lutes were up to the task in the end, however, closing out the final set with a combo block from Amy Wooten and Erin Bremond, followed by a match-finishing kill by Kelsie Moore.
After a slow start, Moore led the Lutes with 13 kills, followed by Bremond with 12 and Kelsey Pacolt with 11. The Lutes were tough at the net with 13 team blocks, including eight block assists by Wooten, seven block assists by Bethany Huston, and a solo block and five block assists by Bremond.
Samantha North led all players with 52 assists, and Blair Bjorkman paced the winners with 20 digs.
The Boxers could do little wrong in the opening set, committing just two errors while hitting .400 for the frame. The No. 22 ranked Lutes came back to win the next two sets. Pacific posted another brilliant hitting performance to win the fourth, but the Lutes had just a bit more in the fifth set to take the match.
Pacific was on fire in the opening set, allowing the Lutes just two points off of their own serve. The Boxers opened up a 9-6 lead on a ball-handling error. PLU has come back to within 11-9 before the Boxers scored the next seven points, two on Takashima kills and two on attack errors, for an 18-9 advantage. Pacific built the 23-12 lead on Takashima's sixth kill of the set and a block by Takashima and Braginsky-Ahloo closed out the dominant 25-13 win. Pacific hit .400 for the set, compared to -.032 for the Lutes.
Pacific Lutheran came out on top in the second and third sets. The Lutes opened up the 7-2 lead on a Wooten kill, but the Boxers bounced right back to tie it at 10-10 on a dump by Webb. Pacific took a short-lived 16-15 lead before the Lutes scored four unanswered points to take control for good, going ahead 19-16 on Bremond's spike. The Boxers cut it to 23-21 lead on Haley Bedell's kill, but Moore's kill and a block gave it to the Lutes at 25-21.
The Boxers took the early 3-1 lead in the third set, only to watch the Lutes come back for the 9-7 lead on a Pacific attack error. The set remained close until the Lutes pulled away from a 16-16 tie to score the next eight points. Pacific committed four attack errors in the string as the Lutes went ahead 24-16 and eventually cruised to the 25-18 victory.
The fourth set was Pacific's turn to take advantage of runs. Trailing 9-4 at one point, Pacific went on a 7-1 run to go ahead 11-10. A string of three straight points put the Boxers up 14-11 and then Braginsky-Ahloo's kill started a run of six unanswered points. Takashima had three kills in the run to build a 20-12 lead. The Lutes came back to within 21-18 on a Bremond kill, but the Boxers held strong to force the fifth set.
The fifth set played out as close as every other set. The Boxers held a 10-9 lead when the Lutes scores three straight points on kills by Amy Wooten, Moore and Pacolt for a 12-10 lead. The Boxers managed to come back within 13-12 on a Takashima kill, but the combo block and Moore's kill ended it.
(Courtesy of Pacific Sports Information Office.)
