TACOMA, Wash. — The Pacific Lutheran University volleyball team ensured it was all treats and no tricks on Senior Night on Saturday, dispatching Northwest Conference rival Willamette University 3-2 (25-18, 19-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-12) to extend the Lutes' win streak to four matches and keeping their conference title hopes alive.
PLU sits one game out of first place with two matches to go including a showdown with NWC co-leader University of Puget Sound on Wednesday night.
"This was just an incredible Senior Night to beat a very tough Willamette team. What do you expect but another five-set match. We're looking forward to playing Puget Sound at home on Wednesday. Thank you seniors and we're excited for them to have one more match at home," said Head Coach
Kevin Aoki.
The Lutes (14-8, 9-5 NWC) charged out of the gate in the opening set, scoring six of the first seven points to take set one 25-18.
Willamette (9-11, 8-6 NWC) owned a 14-9 advantage in the second set before the Lutes scored six straight, including a kill from
Hailey Iha to take a 15-14 lead. The set remained tight and was tied at 18 before the Bearcats tallied seven of the final eight points to earn the 25-19 victory to even the match at 1-1.
Pacific Lutheran opened the third by scoring five straight points and led the rest of the way with an Iha kill giving the Lutes the 25-21 set win.
The fourth set was tied 19-19 before the Bearcats ripped off three straight. Willamette led the rest of the set, prevailing 25-22 to force a fifth set.
The Lutes tallied four of the first five points in the final set but it wasn't enough of a head start with Willamette tying the set at 8-8. An Iha kill pushed the Lutes back into the lead and ignited a 6-1 Lute run that include a
Halle Hetzler kill and a Tori Takeuchi service ace. Willamette narrowed the gap to 14-12 before an attack error pushed the Lutes across the finish line, taking the set 15-12 for their sixth win in the last seven matches.
Iha fueled the Lute attack on Saturday night, collecting 15 kills with a .483 attack percentage.
Elle Thomas contributed 13 kills while
Baylee Johnson had 10.
Olivia Evaro had 38 assists and 17 digs while Hetzler had a team-high 35 digs.
Madeline Dawson and
Torie Takeuchi each had 10 digs with Takeuchi serving up four aces.
Saturday was Senior Night with the program honoring
Baylee Johnson,
Hailey Iha,
Halle Hetzler,
Madeline Dawson, and
Jessica Herklotz in a prematch ceremony.
The Lutes close out their home schedule on Wednesday night, hosting crosstown nemesis University of Puget Sound at 7 p.m.
