TACOMA, Wash. - A hard-fought win against #25 Simpson and a
tough loss to #13 Pacific Lutheran gave the 19th-ranked Puget Sound
Loggers a split on the first day of the Puget Sound Premier
volleyball tournament on Friday at Memorial Fieldhouse in Tacoma,
Wash.
In the first match of the tournament, the Loggers came out of the
gate a bit sluggish against Simpson as the Storm collected a 25-14
set one victory. The Loggers woke up in the second set, hitting 14
of 32 with no attack errors to pull even with a 25-17 set victory.
Simpson again took the lead after the third set as the Storm put up
a match high 18 kills en route to a 25-16 set victory.
The Loggers pulled even once again after the fourth frame, hitting
.333 to collect a 25-21 win and Puget Sound carried the momentum
into the fifth and deciding set, collecting a 15-11 win to take the
match, three sets to two.
Puget Sound was led by 15 kills from senior Lindsey Denman
(Kenmore, Wash./Inglemoor). Sophomore Bre Boyce (Kent,
Wash./Kentwood) chipped in 10 kills. Erika Green (Sandy, Utah/Juan
Diego) led the Loggers with 28 assists while Stephanie Harvey
(Yakima, Wash./Eisenhower) chipped in 17 assists. Senior Leigh
Sumida (Kaneohe, Hawaii/Iolani) led Puget Sound with 17 digs.
Simpson was led by 16 kills from Amy Schuster and 14 each from
Whitney Oviatt and Lara Gillespie. Gillespie also added a
match-high 21 digs while Tara Christensen collected 52 assists on
the match.
In the Loggers second match of the day, they faced off against
rival Pacific Lutheran and the Lutes came out ready to play. PLU
took advantage of poor hitting by the Loggers in the first set to
take a blowout 25-10 set one win and force Puget Sound to play from
behind. Things didn't get much better for Puget Sound in the second
frame, though the Loggers did power their way into positive hitting
numbers, going 10 of 42 on the attack with just four attack errors
but the Lutes held on for a 25-19 set two win.
In the third set, the Loggers' hitting woes continued as they were
just six of 35 from the court with seven attack errors to finish
the match hitting just .009 as PLU collected a 25-19 set three
victory and the match sweep.
Puget Sound was led by six kills from Brynn Blickenstaff (Eagle,
Idaho). Sumida collected 10 digs on the match to hit double-digits
for the second straight match. The lone bright spot for the Loggers
was their blocking game as Puget Sound recorded eight total team
blocks, including six for Kalli Kamphaus (Manson, Wash.).
PLU was led by 13 kills and 15 digs from Beth Hanna. Sarah Beaver
added 33 assists to go with 11 digs while Brenna Archibald dugs out
14 balls. The Lutes improved to 3-0 on the season after having beat
#10 St. Benedict earlier in the morning.
Puget Sound will kick off the Saturday portion of the tournament at
9:00 a.m. when they take on St. Benedict.
Boxscores
#19 Puget
Sound d. #25 Simpson, 3-2
#13 Pacific
Lutheran d. #10 St. Benedict, 3-0
#13 Pacific
Lutheran d. #19 Puget Sound, 3-0
#10 St.
Benedict d. #25 Simpson, 3-0
