WALLA WALLA - Kelsie Moore collected 17 kills and 17 digs Friday night to lead Pacific Lutheran to a 23-25, 25-14, 25-11, 25-23 Northwest Conference volleyball win over the Whitman Missionaries at Sherwood Center.
Moore, an all-conference senior outside hitter from Oregon City, Ore., had the hot hand for the Lutes, finishing the match with a .279 attack percentage. Along with Erin Bremond (11 kills, .296 percentage) and Bethany Huston (nine kills, .333 percentage), Moore led the Lutes to their 11th win in 13 matches this season.
PLU, ranked 20th in Division III volleyball, also improved its conference record to 4-1 with a battle against NWC leader Whitworth slated for 5 p.m. Saturday in Spokane. The unranked Pirates stayed atop the conference standings at 5-0 with a three-set sweep of Puget Sound on Friday. That dropped the Loggers one match behind the Lutes in the NWC table.
Whitman came into Friday night's match winless in four NWC counters and saddled with a 1-9 overall record, but it didn't play that way in the first set. The two teams went at each other before the Missionaries, who hit .237 in the set, pulled out the two-point victory.
But as they had in a three-set win over George Fox last Saturday night in Newberg, Ore., the Lutes put up a wall at the net and turned the tide. The Missionaries compiled negative attack percentages in the middle two sets, and the Lutes rolled to easy victories. The third set was particularly impressive for the visitors, who finished with a .342 attack percentage in the 25-11 triumph.
The fourth set was like the first in final score, though it was PLU that closed it out with the set and match victory.
Pacific Lutheran finished with 14 team blocks, including two solo blocks and seven block assists by Huston and five block assists by Bremond. Samantha North ended the match with 45 assists, and Blair Bjorkman tied Moore with 17 digs.
For the Missionaries, Courtney Brewer compiled 11 kills and six block assists, while Taylor Aschenbrenner had 33 assists and 17 digs. Annie Sing led Whitman with 18 digs.
- PLU -
