SPOKANE, Wash. – Playing the second leg of arguably the toughest road trip in the Northwest Conference, the 19th-ranked Puget Sound Loggers were swept by the Whitworth Pirates, 25-18, 25-17, 25-19, in a Northwest Conference volleyball match on Saturday evening at Whitworth Fieldhouse in Spokane, Wash.

In the first set, the two squads played evenly for the opening half. With the opening frame tied at 12, the Pirates used a 10-2 run to open up the large lead and the Loggers couldn't fight their way back, falling 25-18. Puget Sound was plagued by poor hitting in the first frame, putting down eight kills and committing nine errors for a -.014 hitting percentage.

In the second frame, the Loggers hitting woes seemed to be corrected but the Pirates found their swing as well as they pulled out another big win to put the Loggers in the big 0-2 hole. Puget Sound managed nine kills and just two attack errors on 34 attempts in the second set but the Pirates put down 17 kills to collect the 25-17 win.

In the third set, the Loggers fell back early but fought back as the teams traded points for much of the frame. The Pirates again used a big run, this time 11-3, to take a big lead and the Loggers couldn't get back into the set, falling 25-19 to drop the match, three sets to none.

Puget Sound was led by seven kills from sophomore Brynn Blickenstaff (Eagle, Idaho). Senior Leigh Sumida (Kaneohe, Hawaii/Iolani) had 16 digs on the night while Stephanie Harvey (Yakima, Wash./Eisenhower) had 19 assists on the match. The Loggers hit just .066 for the match, recording 26 kills and 19 errors on 106 total attacks.

Whitworth was led by 12 kills from Kaimi Rocha. Bree Riddle added 24 assists while Ariana Obert led the Bucs with 18 digs. Whitworth recorded seven service aces, but also committed seven service errors.

The Loggers return to Tacoma on Friday night when they will take on Linfield in the first athletic event of homecoming weekend. Match time with the Wildcats is set for 7:00 p.m. at Memorial Fieldhouse in Tacoma, Wash.