SALEM, Ore. – Whitworth's quest for an outright Northwest Conference volleyball championship will have to wait at least one more night after the Pirates fell in five sets at Willamette on Friday.

The Pirates had three chances to side out for the win in the fifth and final set, but the Bearcats scored five consecutive points to win 22-25, 25-21, 25-21, 16-25, 16-14. 

Whitworth dropped to 18-7 overall and 12-3 in the NWC.  A Pirate win on Saturday night will give the Bucs the league's outright title.  A loss will create a co-championship with PLU.  Whitworth has already clinched the NWC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament and at least a share of the NWC crown.

Cassandra Mendoza had five kills in the opening set as Whitworth jumped ahead in the match with a 25-22 win.  The Pirates hit .286 in the set, their best offensive output of the night. 

But Willamette (14-9, 10-5) regrouped to claim the next two sets by identical 25-21 scores.  The Bearcats ran out to a 17-9 lead in the third frame before Whitworth rallied to tie the set 21-21.  But Willamette scored the final four points. 

The Pirates played their best all-around volleyball in the fourth set, rolling to their easiest set win of the night (25-16).  Whitworth hit .250 and had four team blocks while holding Willamette to a .000 hitting percentage.  Nicole Leonard had four kills in the set for the Bucs.

The final set was close throughout until Whitworth used a 7-4 mini-run to turn a 7-7 tie into a 14-11 advantage.  But then Willamette went on its final run. Two Pirate attack errors and a kill from Sarah Fincher gave the Bearcats the lead.  Then Lindsey Compton and Emma Liband combined on a match-winning block.

Mendoza led three Pirates in double figures in kills with 17.  Leonard finished with 15 kills and 19 digs, while Brenna Bruil added 13 kills and was in on seven of the team's 14 blocks.  Maddye Dinsmore had 56 kills and 22 digs.

Finicher finished with a match-high 21 kills for Willamette while Alexa Dowdell had 17.  Liband was in on 12 of Willamette's 13 blocks.

Whitworth will close out the regular season at Lewis & Clark on Saturday night.