McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Pacific Lutheran pulled away to a three-set volleyball sweep over Linfield to close out the 2015 Northwest Conference season Friday evening at Ted Wilson Gymnasium, as the Lutes remain in contention for a share of the NWC crown.
PLU took set scores of 25-16, 25-15 and 25-20 to claim its 10th win in the last 11 matches and improve to 18-7 overall and 12-4 in conference play. Whitworth's five-set loss to Willamette Friday left the Pirates at 12-3 going into Saturday's regular-season finale against Lewis & Clark. While Whitworth has already clinched the conference's automatic postseason bid, a Pirate loss Saturday would mean the Lutes and Pirates would share the conference title for the second straight year.
"What a great year for the Lutes both on and off the court," PLU head coach Kevin Aoki said. "The tight-knit group that we had this year was just so important for our success. We are hoping for a bid because we are playing so well the second half of the season."
While the Lutes won the first set by nine points, it took 11 tie scores and eight lead changes to reach that point. From the beginning the teams exchanged points, mainly in groups of twos and threes. Linfield took its final lead on a three-point run midway through that put the Wildcats up 13-11 following a service ace.
Roshel Muzzall put an end to that with a kill that sparked a six-point PLU run that also included consecutive kills by Chloe Epker and back-to-back service aces by Lucy Capron. After Linfield broke the streak with one point to pull within 17-14, the Lutes went on to score the next five to go up 22-14. A few minutes later another kill for Capron sealed the 25-16 win.
PLU scored the first three points of the second set and hardly looked back. The Lutes held a 7-3 lead after 10 points before Linfield pulled to within one on a 4-1 run. Capron ended that run with a kill for the Lutes, and a Linfield attack error pushed the lead back to three. After Linfield scored again the Lutes opened it up with five straight points, and PLU closed out the 25-15 set win with a four-point run capped yet again with a kill by Capron.
The third set featured a similar script as PLU went up 6-2 before Linfield scored five of the next seven to pull within one at 8-7. The Wildcats kept this set much closer, remaining within one point as late as 18-17 and staying within two up to 20-18. PLU took a 23-18 lead on a block by Epker and Mackenzie Harris, and after two Linfield points Harris closed it out with consecutive kills for PLU.
PLU finished the night hitting .239 while limiting Linfield to a .036 attack percentage. Muzzall led both teams with 11 kills, while Capron totaled seven and Epker added five. Kendle Valade-Nunez picked up 32 assists, while Kylai Cooley tallied 22 digs.
The NCAA will announce the 2015 regional tournament fields on Monday.
