SPOKANE, Wash. -  The Whitworth University volleyball team came up short in an extended fifth set, falling 23-25, 14-25, 25-15, 25-23, 22-20 to Lewis & Clark College in Northwest Conference action at Whitworth Fieldhouse on Saturday.

"It was a tough loss for us, but I have to credit Lewis and Clark," Whitworth head coach Kati Bodecker said. "I thought they played us really tough in that fifth set."

Following the same pattern as Friday night, Whitworth (7-7, 1-1 NWC) took a 2-0 lead in the match, but Lewis & Clark (2-6, 1-1 NWC) fought back to force a decisive fifth set. The Pirates hit just .083 for the match and had 11 service errors, while the Pioneers hit .094 for the match with 11 service errors.

"I think we should have taken care of business before the fifth set. We missed out on some opportunities to terminate rallies and we had a lot of unforced errors. Hopefully we can learn from this," Bodecker said.

After falling behind in the first set, Whitworth took a 6-5 lead on a kill from senior Jalana White. The Pirates could not put a lot of distance between themselves and the Pioneers, but kills from White and junior Tori LaBrie gave Whitworth the set victory. Whitworth came out sharper in the second set, taking a 4-2 lead on a Jalana White kill and continued to build a lead. White served up two aces to spark a 10-0 run that included kills from sophomore Nicole Leonard and senior Briauna Stadeli. A kill from White closed the set in Whitworth's favor.

The Pioneers reversed roles in the third set, jumping out to a 2-0 lead and maintaining control of the set. Sophomore Meaghan Houser and freshman Brenna Bruil teamed up for a block to pull Whitworth within 20-13, but the Pioneers went on a 4-0 run to get just out of the Pirates' reach. Lewis & Clark opened the fourth set with a 3-0 lead before Whitworth went on a 7-0 run to force a Pioneer timeout. Lewis & Clark put together a 4-0 run to tie the set and then used Whitworth errors to take the lead, forcing a fifth set.

The thrilling fifth set got the Pirate crowd on its feet as the teams tied the score 14 times and had seven lead changes. Whitworth looked in position to claim the victory when Lewis & Clark's Kataleya Milan came up with a kill to pull the Pioneers within one. After a 14-14 tie, the teams knotted the score six more times before Lewis and Clark had back-to-back blocks to give the Pioneers the match victory.

Jalana White led the Pirates with 15 kills, 13 digs, three blocks and three aces. Senior Kristine Kardell had a team-high 17 kills and four blocks, while senior Whitney Santos had 22 digs.

Kataleya Milan led the Pioneers with 20 kills, 25 digs, five blocks and an ace. Isabel Valentine had 10 kills and 10 blocks for Lewis & Clark while Daniela De kervor served up three aces.

Whitworth returns to action against George Fox at 7:00 p.m. Friday, September 27.