SALEM, Ore. – Pacific Lutheran held off Willamette in a tightly-contested second set and won the other sets more handily as the 16th-ranked Lutes swept the Bearcats 25-17, 26-24 and 25-17 in Northwest Conference volleyball action Saturday night at Cone Field House.
The Lutes' fifth consecutive win improves their record to 8-4 overall and 3-0 in conference play. Willamette falls to 5-8 overall and 1-3 in the NWC. PLU will head to eastern Washington next weekend to take on Whitworth on Friday and Whitman on Saturday.
Bethany Huston and Lucy Capron tied for the match-best kill total with nine apiece, as Huston posted an incredible .692 attack percentage in the contest (nine kills with no errors on 13 attempts). Haley Urdahl and Amy Wooten each contributed eight kills to a balanced PLU attack that tallied its highest attack percentage of the season (.242). Samantha North averaged better than 11 assists per set for the match with a total of 34 on the night, and Amber Aguiar led all players with 19 digs.
The Lutes scored the first three points of the opening set and hardly looked back. While Willamette tied it up at 6-6 on a kill by Sarah Fincher, a kill by Capron sparked a quick three-point streak for the Lutes. They quickly stretched it to a six-point lead at 13-7 following a Bearcat error, and back-to-back attack errors for the Bearcats clinched the 25-17 win for PLU.
The second set was much closer, featuring six tie scores and three lead changes and requiring an extra point. Willamette mirrored PLU's start in the first set by claiming the first three points, and the Bearcats stretched their lead to as many as four points on three different occasions (7-3, 8-4 and 9-5). A kill by Wooten helped spark PLU's comeback as the Lutes eventually tied it up at 13-apiece.
Five straight PLU points late in the set helped the visitors claim a 21-17 advantage, and PLU actually reached set point at 24-21 before Willamette staved off defeat with four straight points to tie it at 24-24. That was all for naught, however, as the Lutes closed it out on the next two points with consecutive kills by Huston and Urdahl. The final set turned out to be a formality, as the Lutes again opened with three straight points and never allowed the Bearcats to pull closer than two back as they pulled away to the 25-17 win.
