SPOKANE, Wash—Whitworth dominated the first set, but had to rally in the second and third to defeat visiting Willamette 25-16, 25-23, 25-23 in a Northwest Conference volleyball match on Saturday night.

The Pirates move to 17-2 overall and 12-0 in the Northwest Conference. With the loss, the Bearcats fall to 7-10 and 4-8 in NWC play.

The Whitworth offense was efficient in the first set, recording fourteen kills while hitting .423.  The Pirates added and blocks and limited Willamette to a .000 hitting percentage. Maddie Lee and Cassidy Franklin each had four kills and Abigail Hudson had three.

The second set included twelve ties and six lead changes. The Pirates hit .286, and the Bearcats hit .226. Kaity Barr notched three kills in the set, and Joelle Forbes had two service aces. Whitworth trailed 13-17, their largest deficit of the set, but rallied back to tie the game at 22-22 and Barr and Franklin finished off the set with kills.

Willamette out-hit the Pirates .224 to .217 in the third set, but Whitworth clawed back after trailing most of the set.  Whitworth scored the final six points, including the last two points on another Forbes service ace and a Franklin kill.

The Pirates recorded seven service aces in the match. Lee notched ten kills for the Pirates, with Barr and Hudson close behind with nine each.

Dani Queja led the Bearcat offense with eleven kills.

Whitworth hits the road next week to take on University of Puget Sound on Fri, Oct. 29 at 7pm.