GEORGETOWN, Texas — The Pacific Lutheran University volleyball team split its opening matches at the Southwestern Invitational on Friday. The Lutes secured a 3-1 victory over Illinois Institute of Technology (25-20, 11-25, 25-15, 25-17) to open the tournament before falling 3-1 (25-17, 17-25, 25-14, 25-18) to host Southwestern University in the second match of the day. 
 
In the opener, Illinois Tech tallied the opening three points of the match before the Lutes (3-3) scored the next five to take the lead. PLU led the rest of the set, prevailing 25-20. 
 
The Scarlet Hawks (3-2) evened the match in the second set, scoring six of the first seven points and going on to win 25-11.
 
Pacific Lutheran never trailed in the third set, building a 6-3 advantage on a Shaela Allen-Greggs kill. The Lutes' opened up a 13-6 edge on a Macy Matsushima ace on their way to a 25-15 set win. 
 
Illinois Tech led 8-5 in the fourth set before the Lutes seized the lead by scoring the next four points, including a pair of kills from Allen-Greggs. IIT briefly reclaimed the lead at 13-12 but it proved fleeting with the Lutes scoring 12 of the next 15. Julissa Pernsteiner capped off the set with a kill, giving the Lutes' a 25-17 victory to wrap up the match.
 
Claire Hindman and Allen-Greggs led the team with eight kills while Ayre Takamoto had 28 assists and nine digs while Makenna Jackson had 22 digs and Savanna Colliado added 10. PLU had 10 aces in the match with four coming off the serve of Matsushima. 

"It was a good win in the opener after a shaky second set," said Head Coach Kevin Aoki. 

"I thought Shaela brought some power and spark that we needed to have. The second match was tough against host Southwestern who is a very good team and undefeated on the season. We look forward to two more matches tomorrow."
 
PLU led the host Pirates 5-2 in the opening set before Southwestern (5-0) scored seven straight and led the rest of the way, taking set one by a 25-17 scoreline. PLU never trailed in the second set, opening an 18-9 lead on a Makenna Jackson ace before an Allen-Greggs kills cemented a 25-17 set win for the Lutes to even the match. 
 
Southwestern tallied 11 of the opening 14 points in the third, cruising to a 25-14 set win before sealing the match with a 25-18 victory in the fourth.
 
Pernsteiner paced the Lutes with 10 kills while Kailee Efros-Bohn chipped in eight. Jackson had six aces and nine digs. Takamoto had a match-high 32 assists with Matsushima leading the Lutes with 11 digs. 
 
The Lutes finish off the Southwestern Invitational tomorrow with matches against Concordia University and Texas Lutheran University.   

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