SPOKANE, Wash. – The final weekend of the 2025 Northwest Conference volleyball season will decide the league's champion, the location of the conference tournament, and the field represented at the conference tournament.  The Whitworth Pirates, currently in second place, take on league-leading Puget Sound on Friday night at 7:00 pm in Tacoma and third place Pacific Lutheran on Saturday night at 6:00 pm in Parkland.

Check the Whitworth volleyball schedule (link above-right) for up-to-date access to live results and a link to the FloSports broadcasts.

Watch on FlowCollege: All of Whitworth's Northwest Conference athletic events will be steamed through FloCollege in 2025-26.  Fans can sign up to watch Pirate sports on the FloCollege portal.  Registration is $116 for an annual subscription or $20 per month.  Those who register with a .edu email address get a significant discount.

NWC Standings Update:  Puget Sound comes into the weekend leading the conference with a 13-1 record in the 2025 NWC volleyball standings.  The Loggers currently hold a tiebreaker over second-place Whitworth (12-2 NWC) by way of a 3-1 win over the Pirates in Spokane on October 11^th.  Pacific Lutheran (11-3) is in third place.  All three schools have clinched a spot in the 2025 NWC Tournament (Nov. 14-15).  The regular season champion, or co-champion that claims the tiebreaker, will host the tournament.

The fourth team in the tournament will come down to either Whitman (9-5) or Willamette (8-6).  If Whitman wins twice this weekend, the Blues clinch the fourth seeded spot in the field.  They could potentially reach the third seed with two wins and two PLU losses.

The Pirates:  Whitworth is 18-6 overall and 12-2 in the NWC heading into the final weekend.  The Pirates have won five matches in a row.

Whitworth defeated George Fox 25-14, 25-12, 20-25, 25-18 last Friday in the Fieldhouse.  The Pirates hit .283 and finished with 9.5 blocks.  Alyssa Baird had 16 kills and hit .317 in the match.  She also served an ace and led the team with 15 digs.  Lauren Kremer had 11 kills, hit .500 and was in on four blocks.  Amblessed Okemgbo also had 11 kills.  Josephine Thompson and Mya Rodriguez dished 20 assists apiece and Thompson led the Pirates with three service aces.  Whitworth swept the season series with the Bruins.

The Pirates sent the 2025-26 senior class out in style with a 25-18, 25-10, 25-14 win over Lewis & Clark in the home finale.  Rachel Cram, Okemgbo, Rodriguez and Thompson were honored before the match and Whitworth went on to hit a season-high .446 in the contest.  Kremer had 11.5 points on seven kills (.778 hitting), three aces and two blocks.  Okemgbo finished with 10 kills.  Cram got nine digs, a career-high four aces and two assists as the starting libero.  Whitworth extended its winning streak against the Pioneers to 10 in a row.

Powerful Company:  Whitworth is the only team in the country to have played both the current #1 and #2 teams in the AVCA Division III poll (as of Nov. 4).  And the Pirates took a set against both La Verne (#1) and East Texas Baptist (#2).  The Pirates have a win over current #8 Trinity and a win over current RV Northwestern (Minn.). 

NWC Stat Leaders:  Whitworth ranks among conference leaders in several key statistical categories.  The Pirates lead in blocks per set (1.86) and are second in hitting percentage (.205), kills per set (12.63), and assists per set (11.31).  The Pirates are the toughest team in the league to serve against, leading the NWC in service aces allowed per set (1.30).

Individually, Lauren Kremer is first in blocks per set (0.92) and second in hitting percentage (.310).  Amblessed Okemgbo is fifth in kills per set (3.03) and second in total kills (282).  Olivia Paul is eighth in service aces per set (0.45) and sixth in digs per set (3.48).

NWC Poll:  Defending champion Whitworth is listed atop a tightly packed Northwest Conference preseason coaches poll with 58 points, followed by Pacific Lutheran (57) and Puget Sound (55).  Whitworth got four first place votes, PLU got three, Puget Sound two.

The Coach:  Kati Bodecker has a record of 237-99 in her 13th season guiding the Pirates.  Bodecker picked up her 200^th win as Whitworth's coach on Sept. 13, 2024 vs. Chapman University.  She is a five-time Northwest Conference Coach of the Year, including 2021 and 2024 when the Pirates posted perfect 16-0 NWC marks.  She is 167-35 in conference regular season matches through her first 12+ years.  Bodecker has directed the Pirates to six appearances in the NCAA Division III tournament (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024).  In 2013 she coached the Bucs to a 15-13 record, becoming the first Whitworth volleyball coach to post a winning record in her first season since Margaret Campbell in 1990.  She previously had been the head coach at Priest River High School, leading the Spartans to five state tournament appearances, including a runner-up finish in 2012.  She was a four-year starter at the University of Idaho, helping lead the Vandals to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances as a sophomore and junior.

The Opponents:  Puget Sound is 17-6 overall and 13-1 in the NWC heading into Friday's match.  The Loggers won 3-1 at Linfield and 3-0 at Pacific (Ore.) last weekend.  Under 30^th-year head coach Mark Massey, UPS is the best offensive team in the league, leading the NWC in hitting percentage (.239), kills per set (13.36) and assists per set (11.95).  The Loggers are also very good defensively, ranking second in both blocks and digs.  Sophomore MB Maddie Badger is the odds-on favorite for NWC Player of the Year.  She leads the conference in hitting percentage (.409), kills per set (3.63) and points per set (4.22) and ranks second in blocks per set (0.91).  Junior setter Randi Rush tops the NWC in assists per set (10.55) and adds 1.91 digs per set.  Puget Sound handed Whitworth a 3-1 defeat in Spokane on October 11^th, ending a five-game losing skid to the Pirates.  Lindsey Short had 13 kills and two blocks in the match for the Bucs.

Pacific Lutheran is 13-8 overall and 11-3 in the NWC heading into Friday night's match against Whitman.  Kevin Aoki is in his 30^th season coaching the Lutes. who are the only team to have gone 6-0 in the second half of the conference schedule and who handed UPS its only conference loss so far.  PLU is second in the NWC in opponent hitting percentage (.154), second in aces per set (2.09) and third in digs per set (16.30).  The Lutes are balanced offensively with three players averaging between 2.71 and 2.97 points per set.  Macy Matsushima, the starting libero, is second in the NWC in digs per set (4.46) and ninth in aces per set (0.45).  Whitworth defeated PLU 3-0 in Spokane on October 10^th, thanks to a hitting percentage of .296.  Amblessed Okemgbo had nine kills and three blocks in the win.

Coming Up:  The 2025 Northwest Conference tournament will take place on November 14^th (semifinals) and November 15^th (Championship) at a location still to be determined.