SALEM – Pacific Lutheran won the first two sets, but Willamette rallied to win the next three as the Bearcats defeated the Lutes in five sets 21-25, 15-25, 25-19, 25-17 and 16-14 in Northwest Conference volleyball action Friday night at Cone Field House.
Playing without leading hitter Lucy Capron, the Lutes fell just short of extending a 21-match win streak against Willamette. PLU fell to 8-6 overall and 2-3 in conference play, while Willamette improved to 10-4 and extended its NWC record to 6-0 with its first win against the Lutes since 2004.
"What a match by the Lutes," PLU head coach Kevin Aoki said. "We left everything out on the floor. I couldn't be more proud of the team playing without Lucy."
Roshel Muzzall stepped up in Capron's absence to lead the Lutes with a career-best 18 kills, while Michaela Edgers tallied 11 kills and six blocks with a .350 attack percentage in the defeat and Kendle Valade-Nunez also set a career high with 50 assists.
Sarah Fincher led Willamette with 19 kills, while Lindsey Compton tallied a triple-double with 14 kills, 26 assists and 11 digs. Willamette finished the night with a .241 attack percentage while holding the Lutes to a .164 percentage.
After Willamette scored the first point, PLU nearly ran away with the opening set. The Lutes scored six of the next seven points and built multiple six-point leads with Willamette never pulling closer than two back before a block by Edgers and Gabrielle Alley clinched the 25-21 opener.
The second set truly was all PLU. The Lutes scored the first two points and opened a 10-4 lead early. They never looked back as they closed out the set 25-15. Unfortunately for the Lutes, momentum shifted early in the fourth set. After PLU scored four of the first five points, Willamette used a five-point streak to claim its first lead since the opening point of the match. The Bearcats didn't trail again in the set, as the teams reached six tie scores before Willamette wrapped up the set win on a 9-4 run.
Willamette jumped ahead in the fourth set and never looked back. The Bearcats scored four of the first five points and nine of the first 13, and PLU never drew closer than four points back before the Bearcats scored the final three points to win it 25-17 and force a fifth set.
It looked like Willamette might maintain all the momentum right through the fifth set as the Bearcats scored five of the first six points. However, a well-timed PLU timeout helped jump start the Lute attack, and a kill by Muzzall sparked a six-point PLU run that gave the Lutes a 7-5 lead. Willamette responded with three straight points to reclaim the advantage, and following a kill b Mackenzie Harris to tie it up at 8-8 the Bearcats scored three more.
Two straight Lute points made it a one-point match, and the teams exchanged points until Willamette held the 14-12 match-point advantage. Consecutive kills by Alley and Edgers tied it up at 14-14 and prompted a Willamette timeout, but the Bearcats closed it out following the brief break with two straight points for the win.
Pacific Lutheran will look to rebound from the five-set defeat Saturday, when the Lutes will take on George Fox in Newberg, Ore., at 7 p.m.
