Setting the Scene: It's a lighter week in Luteville for the Pacific Lutheran University Athletic Department with men's and women's cross country and football all on a bye week. Volleyball, men's soccer, and women's soccer heads to Salem, Oregon for games against Willamette University over the weekend while men's and women's golf hosts the annual PLU Invitational on Monday and Tuesday at The Home Course.
 
SATURDAY:
VB at Willamette in Salem, Ore. (6 p.m.)
SUNDAY:
MSOC at Willamette in Salem, Ore. (12 p.m.)
WSOC at Willamette in Salem, Ore. (2:45 p.m.)
MONDAY:
GOLF hosts PLU Invitational at The Home Course (DuPont, Wash.)
TUESDAY:
GOLF hosts PLU Invitational at The Home Course (DuPont, Wash.)

Get with the Flo: Last summer the Northwest Conference signed an exclusive five-year deal with FloSports to be the live streaming platform of the Lutes and the rest of the conference.
 
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Volleyball: Pacific Lutheran (10-2, 3-0 NWC) sits atop the conference standings and heads to Oregon riding a six-match win streak. The Lutes opened NWC action with a bang on Friday, sweeping George Fox University 3-0 before sweeping Pacific University 3-0 the following night. On Tuesday, the Lutes snapped crosstown rival University of Puget Sound's five match win streak, downing the Loggers 3-1 in front of a raucous crowd inside Olson Gymnasium.

Ayre Takamoto was named the NWC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, becoming the first third straight Lute to win the honor. Takamoto continued her big efforts on Tuesday night, finishing with a double-double of 40 assists and 14 digs.

Home Sweet Home: The Lutes have been almost perfect at home over the past four seasons, enjoying a 29-2 mark inside Olson Gymnasium since the 2023 campaign.  

Men's Soccer: The Lutes (4-1-2, 2-0-1 NWC) are on a six-game unbeaten run, earning a pair of shutouts to open league play before battling to a 1-1 draw with University of Puget Sound on Wednesday.
 
PLU bounced Pacific University 1-0 in Saturday's conference opener before blasting George Fox University 3-0 the next day. Connor O'Brien had a foot in all three goals on Sunday, scoring twice in the 16th minute and assisting on Ty Brunner's goal in the 60th minute.  
 
On Wednesday, the Lutes had a 472-minute shutout streak snapped as the host Loggers scored in the 52ndminute but Eric Martinez equalized in the 62nd minute to level the match.

Women's Cross Country: Ellie Norris was the top Lute finisher at the PLU Invitational on Saturday, helping the squad finish 12th in the team standings.

Norris ran her first collegiate 6,000-meter race in 23 minutes, 29.1 seconds to finish 45th overall. Sal Mattivi finished 71st in 24:27.5 with Mariel Robles close behind in 25:02.1.

PLU tallied 290 points in the team standings, finishing just four points behind Division II Saint Martin's University. 
 
Women's Golf: Pacific Lutheran teed off the fall season earlier this week at the Grisham Memorial Shootout at The Home Course. 

Jayda Thomas was in midseason form. A Second Team All-League selection last spring, Thomas led the Lutes, placing seventh overall with a two-round tally of 148. Thomas accomplished that score by shooting a 74 both rounds. Mari Morris shot a 175 (91-84) in her Lute debut while SeRi Park also made her Lute debut, shooting a 178 (87-91).
 
PLU finished 12th overall with a 681 (343-338) in an international field including seven NCAA Division II schools. 

Men's Cross Country: The Lutes finished seventh overall on Saturday at the annual PLU Invitational. Noah Friedrich navigated the 8,000-meter course in 27:35.7 to place 59th overall while Isaiah Bradley was 74th in 28:22.9.
 
As a squad, the Lutes finished seventh overall, scoring 221 points. Both the men and women take this weekend off and will return to action on Oct. 3 for the Frank Knott Classic in Spokane, Washington. 
 
Women's Soccer: Nine-time defending Northwest Conference Champion Pacific Lutheran (3-2-2, 1-1-1 NWC) opened conference play over the weekend with mixed results. The Lutes stymied Pacific 2-0 to open the slate on Saturday before battling to a 0-0 stalemate against George Fox on Sunday. 
 
On Wednesday, the Kami Novotny tallied her first career goal in the 57th minute but defending Co-Champion Puget Sound answered with two goals in less than a minute to prevail 2-1, snapping PLU's 35-game conference unbeaten run.

It was the Lutes' first NWC loss since Nov. 1, 2023, going 28-0-7 in their previous 35 conference games, and was PLU's longest conference unbeaten run since going 34-0-3 from 1985 to 1988. 
 
Men's Golf: The Lutes were off over the weekend, last competing at the season opening Whitworth Invitational back on Sept. 14.
 
That tournament saw the squad place fourth overall, beating host Whitworth University. PLU carded a score of 556 (276-280) with Grant Raubenolt headlining PLU's efforts with a 139 (66-73) to finish fifth overall at three-under par. 
 
Football: The Lutes (1-2) wrapped up their non-conference slate on Saturday, falling 24-6 on the road to 12th-ranked Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. 

PLU's defense kept the Tigers off the scoreboard in both the first and fourth quarters with Connor Nauta making 10 tackles with 3.5 TFLs, and 1.5 sacks. 

Sam Tracy scored PLU's lone touchdown, scooping up a loose ball and running three yards into the endzone. 

Trinity was the second nationally-ranked school the Lutes faced in the non-conference season, having battled 19th-ranked University of Mary Hardin-Baylor the previous week.

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