TACOMA, Wash. - In a battle of regionally-ranked, nationally-ranked and just plain rival schools, the #15 Puget Sound Loggers fell to the #19 Pacific Lutheran Lutes in five sets, 25-27, 23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-10, on Wednesday night at Stadium High School in Tacoma, Wash.

The Loggers were able to outlast the Lutes in the first set as both teams took awhile to warm up.  Puget Sound hit just .098 with 15 kills and 10 errors while the Lutes had 12 kills and seven attack errors to hit .104.

In the second set, the Loggers overcame an 18-13 deficit to tie the set at 19-19 before finally prevailing 25-23.  UPS limited their attack errors to just three, adding 12 kills to hit .265 for the frame while the Lutes still committed seven attack errors, adding 15 kills, to hit .163.

In the third set, the Lutes overcame an early Puget Sound lead, taking an 11-8 lead after being down 7-3.  The Loggers closed the gap to 19-17 but at the end of the set, it was PLU winning 25-21.  PLU hit .270 in the set, compared with .200 for the Loggers as PLU closed the gap to one.

Both offenses were hot in the fourth set.  The Loggers and Lutes battled before the Loggers took a 20-17 lead but PLU used a late run, scoring the set's final five points, to take a 25-23 set win and force the fifth and deciding frame.  The Lutes hit .400 in the fourth set, putting down 16 kills and committing just two attack errors.  The Loggers also had 16 kills with six attack errors to hit .312 on the set.

In the fifth and deciding set, the Lutes took advantage of the momentum they gathered from sets three and four to go from a 4-4 tie to a 10-7 lead to the eventual 15-10 victory.  PLU hit .174 in the final frame, compared with .045 for the host Loggers.

Puget Sound will look to get back in the win column on Friday night when they play host to Willamette at Stadium High School in Tacoma, Wash.

Box Score