by Maddie Bernard, Sports Information Student Writer

TACOMA – The Pacific Lutheran University volleyball team kicked off the first day of the Puget Sound Premiere Tournament with both a win and a loss Friday afternoon at Memorial Fieldhouse.

The Lutes defeated fellow Northwest Conference member Linfield in the fifth set of a tight match with set scores of 23-25, 25-16, 25-18, 19-25, and 15-9. While PLU lost a close first set, the Lutes returned to win two sets back to back. The fourth set saw four lead changes as Linfield beat the Lutes and took the match to a decisive fifth set. Despite the six tie scores in a close fifth set, PLU persevered and Chloe Epker clinched the match victory with her team-best 17th kill of the match.

PLU returned to the court to play Trinity, falling in a three set match with scores of 25-21, 25-22, and 25-14. The Lutes put up a strong fight in the first two sets with six tie scores in the first and 13 tie scores and seven lead changes in the second.

Epker led the Lutes with 17 kills in the Linfield match and added six against Trinity, while Roshel Muzzall added 16 kills against Linfield and Lucy Capron scored eight in the Trinity match. Kylai Cooley had a total of 33 digs between the two matches, while Kendle Valade-Nunez racked up 49 total assists.

Head coach Kevin Aoki was pleased with the team's performance against Linfield, but hopes to have more energy in the second day of the tournament Saturday.

"I thought we played a hard-fought match against Linfield winning in five," Aoki said. "Chole and Roshel hit well. The second match, we just fell behind by two sets and ran out of energy, Trinity played really well."

Saturday the Lutes return to the PLU campus for their 2015 home opener, playing Texas-Dallas at 2 p.m. and then Puget Sound at 6 p.m. at Names Family Court.