SPOKANE, Wash. - After four straight sweeps to open Northwest
Conference play, the ninth-ranked Puget Sound Loggers fell victim
to the Whitworth Pirates in four sets, 25-18, 13-25, 25-19, 25-16,
in a NWC volleyball match on Friday night at Whitworth Fieldhouse
in Spokane, Wash.
In the first set, Whitworth came out strong, hitting .263 with
just three attack errors to force the Loggers (9-4, 4-1 NWC) to
play from behind. Freshman Brynn Blickenstaff (Eagle, Idaho)
kept the Loggers in the set, putting down five kills with no errors
on seven attempts for a .714 hitting percentage.
In the second set, the Loggers were able to take advantage of
hot hitting on their side of the net, 12 kills and four errors
on 32 attempts for a .250 clip, and ice-cold hitting for the
Pirates, eight kills and nine errors on 37 attacks for a -.027
hitting percentage. Freshman Erika Greene (Draper, Utah/Juan
Diego) stepped up big for the Loggers in the easy set win,
collecting five kills and just one error on seven attacks for a
.571 hitting percentage.
Following the break, the Loggers hard a hard time warming up
again as they fell behind early and 11 attack errors doomed them in
a 25-19 set loss. Stephanie Harvey (Yakima, Wash./Eisenhower)
was a bright spot at setter, putting up nine assists on 11 kills as
the Loggers had a .000 hitting percentage in the frame.
The fourth and final set was unfortunately more of the same for
the Loggers as Whitworth came out strong, leaving UPS with too much
ground to cover in a comeback attempt. Down 10-3 at one
point, Puget Sound was able to fight back to within five at 18-13
but they never got any closer as the Bucs took the clinching set,
25-16.
The Loggers were led by 10 kills from Greene. Junior
Lindsey Denman (Kenmore, Wash./Inglemoor) added nine kills while
Blickenstaff ended the match with seven kills to her name.
Harvey finished with 20 assists on the night while starting setter
Jamee Fred (Centennial, Colo./Grandview) added 17 assists for the
Loggers.
Whitworth was led by 14 kills from Kaimi Rocha and nine from
Nikki Bardwell. Ka'ipo Rocha added eight kills while Holly
Tomlin finished with seven. Bree Riddle assisted on 23 kills
while Bethany Castilleja led all players with 23 digs on the night.
The Loggers, who still sit in first place in the NWC, will look
to get back into the win column on Saturday when they travel to
Walla Walla for a match at Whitman.
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