WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Down 24-22 in the fourth set and facing the uncertain prospect of going to a fifth, Whitworth outscored Whitman 6-2 to settle Wednesday night's Northwest Conference volleyball 3-1 win in the Pirates' favor at the Sherwood Center.

Visiting Whitworth improved to 16-5 overall and 9-2 in the NWC with a ninth straight conference win.  The final set scores were 25-23, 15-25, 25-9, 28-26.  The Pirates temporarily took over sole possession of first place in the NWC as PLU (8-2 NWC) did not play tonight.

The Missionaries, playing a team at or near the top of the NWC standings for the third match in a row, fell to 8-12, 4-7.

Cassandra Mendoza led Whitworth with 15 kills, while Brenna Bruil and Nicole Leonard posted 14 kills apiece.  Bruil and Shawna Korshavn had four block-assists each and Leonard tied for the team lead in digs (20) with Mallorie Schoesler.  Maddye Dinsmore dished 54 assists as Whitworth hit .255 as a team.

"I think our offense was spurred by our defensive tenacity and ability to get good first contacts that Maddye was able to distribute," said Whitworth head coach Kati Bodecker.  "Maddye did a great job of putting our hitters in a position to be successful and our hitters swung aggressively."

Whitworth grabbed a 17-12 lead in the opening set on a kill by Bruil, but Whitman rallied to tie the set 23-23 on a Pirate error.  Back-to-back kills by Mendoza gave the Pirates the opening set 25-23.

The Missionaries used that late momentum from the opening set to run away with the second set 25-15.  Whitman hit .366 with 17 kills in that frame.  The Missionaries pulled away from a 7-7 tie with a 10-2 run and were never headed.

But Whitworth regrouped and completely dominated the third set after coming out of the break.  Whitworth jumped ahead 8-1 after a kill by Bruil and finished the set at 25-9 on a kill by Leonard.  The Pirates hit .364 in that game.

The fourth set was the closest of the night as neither team led by more than four points, and that occurred fairly early when a service error gave Whitworth an 11-7 advantage.  The Pirates looked poised to close out the set and the match with a 22-19 lead that forced a Whitman timeout.  But the Missionaries used a 5-0 run to go ahead 24-22 and seemed ready to send the match into the fifth set.

That's when Whitworth retook control and used the final 6-2 run to close out the match.  First, kills by Korshavn and Mendoza tied the set 24-24.  Whitman had one more opportunity to close out the set at 25-24, but an error by the Missionaries retied the contest.  With the final set tied 26-26, Leonard's kill gave Whitworth match-point and the Pirates ended the evening with a block by Haley Vick and Korshavn.

Whitman came into the match as the best blocking team in the NWC, averaging more than 2.4 blocks per set.  But the Missionaries totaled only five blocks in the match, the same total as the Pirates.  Shae Kanakaole posted a match-high 18 kills for Whitman and Abby Seethoff contributed 12 kills.  Whitman hit .201 as a team.

"We didn't want Whitman's blocking to change our offensive mentality," Bodecker said. "I thought we did a great job of shaking off our errors and focusing on the next point."

Whitworth will continue this week's road swing with a match at Pacific University on Saturday night.