WHITTIER, Calif.—Whitworth volleyball won two five-set matches on the first day of the Whittier College Invitational on Friday at Whittier College. The Pirates won a back-and-forth first match against Chapman University, then rallied to win the last three sets to beat hosting Whittier.
Whitworth pulled out a 25-15, 18-25, 25-14, 21-25, 15-13 victory against Chapman in the first game of their tournament doubleheader.
The Pirates opened the first set with a 4-0 run and never trailed. Whitworth posted a .244 team hitting percentage in the first set.
The Panthers capitalized on Whitworth errors to take the second set. The Pirates committed seven attack errors, two ball handling errors, and four service errors in the second set alone.
Whitworth bounced back to take the third set, scoring the final five straight points, capped off with a game point service ace by Saylor Anderson.
Chapman went on a 7-0 run late in the fourth set to go up 20-16, and finished the set with kills from Sophie Srivastava, Erika Wiles, Annika Rudd, and Natalie Spencer to even the match.
The Pirates rallied to win a seesaw fifth set 15-13 behind kills by Kaity Barr and Maddie Lee to take the match and push their record to 4-1.
Natalie Spencer led the Chapman offense with 17 kills and a .214 hitting percentage.
Barr led Whitworth with 17 kills and finished with a .586 hitting percentage. Maddie Lee followed close behind with 16 kills.
The Pirates lost the first two sets, but won the last three sets to stun Whittier at home and take the second match 12-25, 17-25, 25-16, 25-22, 15-10.
The Poets got off to a hot start in the first set, winning 25-12 behind a .240 hitting percentage while the Bucs hit a season-low -0.135.
Whittier also took the second set, 25-17, capped off with a game-point service ace by Xenia Villagomez.
Whitworth turned up the intensity in the third set, winning behind a .325 hitting percentage, the best hitting performance of the night. The Pirates kept the energy up in the fourth set, winning by finishing on a 5-1 run.
Whitworth pulled away from a 9-9 tie to win the fifth set.
The Poets' hitting percentages in the last three sets were .059, .087, and .048.
Lee led the offensive effort for the Pirates with 15 kills.
Katelyn Popoff had 12 kills for Whittier in the loss.
The Pirates are now 2-0 in the tournament and 6-1 overall. Chapman falls to 0-2 overall, and Whittier falls to 1-5.
Whitworth hopes to continue the streak Saturday against Pomona-Pitzer at 4pm and La Verne at 6:30pm on the final day of the tournament.
