WALLA WALLA, Wash. --- The Pacific Lutheran Volleyball team (17-6, 13-2 NWC) earned the season and match sweep of the Whitman Blues (6-16, 5-10 NWC) on Friday night, dominating in both sets one and three.
 
The Blues took the first pair of points in the opening set, before the Lutes fought back to tie the match at 3-3. Following a 10-10 tie, senior libero Makenna Jackson gave the Lutes three aces to spark an impressive 15-2 run to close out the first set; 25-12. Kills from sophomore Shaela Allen-Greggs and freshman Julissa Pernsteiner also helped the Lutes cruise through set one.
 
Set two was all Whitman early, as a slow start by the Lutes earned the Blues a 8-2 advantage early. A few attack errors by Whitman along with a string of three different Lutes earning kills put the Lutes back on top 9-8. Meanwhile, a kill by senior Claire Hindman gave the Lutes a 18-13 lead, but Whitman didn't back down this time, roaring back to cut the PLU lead to 19-18 before ultimately tying set two up at 21 a-piece. Noe Feliciano and Alexis Eggert took over on offense, ending the set with four-straight points to give PLU a 25-21 win in the second set.
 
A string of attack errors by Whitman and kills by Pernsteiner propelled the Lutes to a commanding 9-3 lead at the start of the third and final set. Three late kills from Eggert and Kailee Efros-Bohn turned an 18-14 lead into a 24-14 lead, where Haley Goto would sub in and punctuate the three-set sweep with the final kill of the contest.
 
Earning their fourth-consecutive win, all in less-than five sets, the Lutes locked themselves in to the two-seed for the Northwest Conference tournament. The squad sits one game ahead of rival Puget Sound, but hold the sets tiebreaker over the Loggers in the season split.
 
Allen-Greggs led the Lutes in kills with 11 while Pernsteiner followed close with nine. Libero Makenna Jackson handled the aces (4) and digs (15) in the three-set sweep over the Blues. Ayre Takamoto did the setting for the Lutes, notching 37 assists.
 
"It was a great team victory, and I am very proud of our team's progress throughout this season.
" Said Head Coach Kevin Aoki following the win.
 
"We are peaking at the right time and we look forward to our match against Whitworth tomorrow"
 
The Lutes regular season comes to a close tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. in Spokane as they are set to face the conference's regular season champions in the Whitworth Pirates. Sitting at 13-2 in Northwest Conference play, the Lutes are eyeing the two-seed in the NWC Tournament.
 
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