CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Pacific Lutheran University suffered a pair of tough setbacks to open its tour of California on Friday, falling 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-13) to Pomona-Pitzer Colleges to begin the day before getting edged 3-0 (26-24, 26-24, 25-21) at the hands of University of La Verne.

In the opening match of the day, the Sagehens (2-4) led wire-to-wire in the first set to collect the 25-17 win. The Lutes (2-5) held a 9-8 advantage in the second set but a six-point surge by Pomona-Pitzer midway through the set sabotaged the Lutes in a 25-18 setback before the Sagehens wrapped up the match with a 25-13 win in the third.

McKenzie Pfeiffer set the tone with 12 kills with Emily Zink providing 22 of the Lutes' 24 assists in the match. Halle Hetzler accumulated 18 digs with Madeline Dawson collecting 10.

In the nightcap, PLU staked an early 3-1 lead off a Pfeiffer kill and a pair of La Verne (4-1) attack errors. Five consecutive points swelled the Lute lead to 12-6 midway through the set but the host Leopards pounced later in the set, ripping off five straight points to take a 17-14 lead. The set was tied at 22 courtesy of Pfeiffer kill and was tied again at 24 off another Pfeiffer kill but the Leopards grinded out back-to-back kills to take the opening set 26-24.

The margins were just as thin in the second set. PLU trailed 22-16 before scoring the next seven points, including a pair of aces off the serve of Callie Simmonds. A Kailee Efros-Bahn kill gave the Lutes the 23-22 edge but La Verne scored four of the set's final five points to escape with another 26-24 win.

Pacific Lutheran enjoyed a 12-7 lead in the third but it proved fleeting with the Leopards collecting eight of the final 10 points to take the set 25-21 to secure the match.

Pfeiffer and Simmonds each finished with 10 kills with the later also collecting three aces. Hailey Iha netted six blocks while Emily Zink and Hope Baldyga collected 17 and 11 assists, respectively. Hetzler again pace the defensive efforts with 22 digs while Baldyga added 15 and Simmons chipped in 12.

"The matches today were tough ones as we face two SCIAC teams," said Head Coach Kevin Aoki. "We battled but we just couldn't get over the hump and create any kind of momentum throughout the day. The nice thing is that we have two more matches tomorrow in preparation for the start of conference next weekend."

PLU is back on the court tomorrow at 11 a.m. facing Chapman University before closing the trip against Whittier College at 1:30 p.m.