TACOMA, Wash. – It is only the first weekend of the Northwest Conference volleyball schedule, but the Whitworth Pirates have cleared a big hurdle towards claiming a second straight conference title after earning a hard-fought five-set win at Puget Sound on Saturday night to pull off a road sweep of the Tacoma-area schools.

The Pirates (8-3 overall, 2-0 NWC) scored the final six points of the fifth set to pick up the 26-28, 25-20, 25-18, 22-25, 15-10 win over the Loggers one night after gaining an emotional three-set win at 2014 co-champion Pacific Lutheran.  Whitworth earned its first road sweep at PLU and UPS since 2005.

"I continue to be impressed with how mentally tough we are," said head coach Kati Bodecker. "We struggled on all levels tonight. The Loggers blocked well and took us out of a rhythm offensively. Defensively we were a step behind. But somehow we found a way to score points when it mattered."

Cassandra Mendoza led four Whitworth players who hit double figures in kills with 16.  Brenna Bruil and Nicole Leonard added a dozen kills each, while Shawna Korshavn came off of the bench for ten.  Maddye Dinsmore dished a season-high 58 assists and also led all players in the match with 32 digs.  She and Mallorie Schoesler each had three service aces. 

Hannah Stinson led UPS (4-6, 1-1) with 15 kills.  She also was in on 12 blocks and was the only Logger player in double figures in either category.  Moira McVicar had 45 assists, while Rachael Garrison had 29 digs.

Whitworth trailed throughout the first set, by margins as large as 18-11, 20-13 and 23-18.  But the Pirates rallied to take a 25-24 lead before the Loggers won the set 28-26 on a kill by Stinson.

Whitworth appeared to take control after winning the second and third sets in comfortable fashion.  The Pirates pulled away from a 17-17 tie in the second frame to win 25-20.  Mendoza finished it off with a kill.  Then the Bucs ran out to an 18-7 lead in the third set before holding on to win 25-18 with another clinching kill by Mendoza.

Puget Sound opened a big lead in the fourth frame when a block by Stinson and McVicar gave the Loggers a 19-10 lead.  But Whitworth rallied to within 24-22 before another UPS block ended the set.

The Pirates opened and closed the final set with important runs.  Dinsmore served three consecutive aces at the beginning to help the Bucs go ahead 5-0.  The Loggers fought back to take a 10-9 lead on a Whitworth attack error.  But then the Pirates closed with their 6-0 run.  Dinsmore finished it off with her own kill.

"Our girls never stop believing," Bodecker said. "They do a really good job of moving on to the next point and not thinking about what just happened. I thought we kept our serving tough and passed consistently throughout the match specifically in the last set."

Whitworth will play its third straight NWC road contest when the Pirates visit Whitman College (2-6, 0-2) on Wednesday night.