TACOMA – Following a pivotal fourth set, Pacific Lutheran fell to cross-town rival Puget Sound 2-3 on Wednesday night at UPS' Memorial Fieldhouse. The Lutes dropped the match 25-21, 25-14, 18-25, 23-25 and 11-15.
The loss would be the first for the Lutes this year in Northwest Conference play, bringing their record to 10-1, 14-5 overall. It also brought PLU's 10-game win streak to a halt.
With the victory, the Loggers improved to 10-1 in conference and 15-5 overall. Both teams are now tied for first place in the conference.
Despite the end result, the PLU offense had a stellar night with four players accounting for double-digit kills. The Lutes combined for 62 kills for a match-high this season. Amy Wooten led with 16 kills and a .341 hitting percentage in addition to her team-leading three blocks. Lucy Capron added 12 kills, while Haley Urdahl tallied 11. Bethany Huston rounded out the balanced attack with 10 kills.
Setter Samantha North and libero Amber Aguiar both tallied match-high stats in their respective specialties. North added 50 assists to her season while Aguiar contributed 45 digs.
For the Loggers, Jackie Harvey led the UPS attack with 17 kills. Marissa Florant added 15, while Nicolette Reynaud rounded out the top three with 10 kills. Jenni Brehove guided the offense with 48 assists. Puget Sound spread the defensive responsibilities with Christina Chun tallying 26 digs, Brehove adding 21 and Florant contributing 16. Emily Convery led with six blocks.
The first set proved early on that this was going to be a tightly contested match. It featured 10 tie scores and six lead changes. Following a 20-20 tie, PLU posted five of the final six points to secure the first set 25-21.
The second set saw the same intensity as the first, with the score remaining tight for the first 20 points or so. After taking a 12-11 lead, PLU would put up a four-point rally to put some distance between the teams. The Lutes accounted for an impressive 13 of the final 16 points scored on their way to a 25-14 victory.
The Loggers battled to avoid the sweep in the third set. Following an 11-all tie, UPS pulled ahead and never relinquished the lead, scoring seven of the final nine points to keep the match alive with a 25-18 set victory. Service errors on both sides of the net contributed to some easy points with the set featuring eight total. The Lutes alone tallied 12 service errors throughout the match for a team-high this season.
The fourth set featured PLU taking a 20-14 lead and the Loggers refusing to go down too easily. UPS rallied to take four of the next six points to push within four points of PLU. With the score in the Lutes' favor at 23-18, UPS took off on a seven-point rally to take the set victory 25-23 and push a final set.
Again, the Lutes took the early lead in the fifth set 8-4, but as seen before, the Loggers weren't going down without a fight. UPS rallied for five points to claim the advantage 9-8 and never looked back on their way to a 15-11 win, taking the match 2-3 over the Lutes.
Pacific Lutheran will return home on Saturday to host Willamette in a 7 p.m. matchup at Olson Auditorium's Names Family Court. This match will be Lute Volleyball's annual "Dig Pink" game in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Wear pink to the game to show your support.
