TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University volleyball team remained perfect inside Olson Gymnasium on Friday night, notching its seventh home victory in as many tries with a gritty 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 25-19, 25-11) win over Northwest Conference rival Whitman College.
McKenzie Pfeiffer led the way for the Lutes in her penultimate home match, collecting a match-high 15 kills while fellow senior
Emily Dulaney notched a match-best 40 assists.
The opening set saw the Lutes (14-8, 11-2 NWC) race out to a 7-3 lead only to see it evaporate as the visiting Blues (6-16, 4-9 NWC) built a 19-15 advantage. PLU capitalized on unforced errors to next the next five points. Whitman would reclaim the lead at 23-21 but the Lutes scored the final four points of the set, getting a kill from
Baylee Johnson and a
Callie Simmonds ace, while benefiting from two Whitman attack errors to take set one 25-23.
Whitman scored the first five points of the second set but the advantage was quickly nullified with PLU scoring 14 of the next 20. Unforced errors, this time by the Lutes tilted the scales back in the Blues' favor, scoring nine of the next 10 with five of those points off Lute miscues. Whitman would maintain a lead the rest of the set, prevailing 25-21 to level the match at 1-1.
PLU dug itself in an early hole in the third, trailing 9-2 before ripping off eight straight and 11 of the next 12 to stake a 13-10 lead. PLU kept its foot on the gas with a
Hailey Iha kill giving the Lutes the 25-19 set win.
The Lutes had runs of six straight points and 10 consecutive points in the fourth set, cruising to the 25-11 set win to wrap up the match and improve to 7-0 inside Olson Gymnasium this fall.
Pfeiffer's 15 kills headlined the stat sheet while Johnson and Iha each had nine kills.
Callie Simmonds was effective on the serve with five aces along with five kills. Defensively,
Halle Hetzler had a match-high 21 digs with
Makenna Jackson and
Madeline Dawson both adding 10 apiece.
"We're proud of how we battled through adversity in the third set, trailing 9-2," said Head Coach
Kevin Aoki. "We hung in there and kept pressing forward to ultimately gain some momentum. We're looking forward to tomorrow and being able to celebrate our six amazing seniors."
The Lutes close out their home slate tomorrow at 6 p.m., hosting NWC leading Whitworth University on Senior Night.
