Box Score SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth moved into a first place tie in the Northwest Conference volleyball standings with a 3-0 sweep of 17th-ranked Pacific Lutheran on Friday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
The Pirates improved to 14-5 overall and 7-2 in the NWC to grab a share of the conference lead with the Lutes (14-4, 7-2). The set scores were 25-21, 25-20, 25-21.
Whitworth showed great composure, pulling away from late ties in the second and third sets to claim the victory. The Pirates hit .180 as a team while holding PLU to a .106 hitting percentage. Three Whitworth players reached double figures in kills, led by Brenna Bruil who had 11 kills and five block assists.
"We played with confidence and composure tonight," said Whitworth head coach Kati Bodecker. "Our game plan was to be tough and intentional with our serve. We knew that if we could serve tough and play aggressively, we would win."
The Pirates jumped out to a quick lead in the opening set, going up 12-6 on a block by Nicole Leonard and Haley Vick, then extending the lead to 19-12 on a kill by Cassandra Mendoza. Whitworth led 23-17 before the Lutes closed to within 24-21 after back to back Pirate attack errors. But Leonard closed out the set in Whitworth's favor with her fourth kill.
The second set was much tighter. Whitworth led 13-10 after Maddye Dinsmore's service ace, but PLU came back to tie the set 15-15 on a block by Lucy Capron and Kacey Hartman. Leading only 19-17, the Pirates finished off the set on a 6-3 run, including three kills by Bruil.
The team traded leads five times over the first half of the final set. PLU looked poised to extend the match to a fourth set after Amy Wooten's block gave the Lutes a 19-16 advantage. But Whitworth ended the match on a 9-2 run to close out the sweep.
In addition to Bruil's big night, Mendoza finished with 11 kills and Vick added ten, while Leonard had nine. Dinsmore dished 37 assists and added 16 digs and a pair of aces. Elizabeth Ginley led the Pirates with 18 digs. Whitworth had seven aces in the match while PLU only had two.
"We wanted to put the pressure on them and I thought we did that well," Bodecker said. "We maintained control the entire match and never stopped competing."
Capron and Wooten led PLU with eight kills each, with Wooten totaling 2.5 blocks. Samantha North had 27 assists and Amber Aguiar led all players with 19 digs.
The Pirate win ended a five-match losing streak to PLU, the last four of which had gone five sets.
Whitworth returns to action on Saturday against fellow NWC-lead Puget Sound (8-10, 7-2). The Loggers rallied from two sets down to overcome Whitman on Friday night. PLU travels to Walla Walla to battle the Missionaries.
