Box Score TACOMA, Wash.—After dropping the first set and needing extra points to win the second and third sets, the University of Puget Sound volleyball team finally found a hint of rhythm in the fourth set, putting away Whitworth three sets to one Friday at Memorial Fieldhouse in Tacoma, Wash.
The match started off streaky as Whitworth took the first six and seven of the first eight points. The Loggers rallied with four straight of their own, then put up five straight after four Whitworth scores to cut the Pirate lead to 14-11. Whitworth then extended their lead to 21-16 and swapped points until they took the set 25-20. In the first set, the Loggers hit .000, their nine kills in the game offset by nine attack errors. The Pirates, on the other hand, hit .219, committing only five errors while tallying 12 kills.
The second set was tightly contested as neither team could put more than two points together in the first 20. Deadlocked at 10, Whitworth then rattled off four straight. A Puget Sound time out halted the Pirates run, then the Loggers took seven of the next eight for a 18-16 lead. Whitworth whittled down the Logger lead, evening the set at 22. The teams traded the next four points, then Puget Sound won a wild point to take a 25-24 lead. They clinched the set victory on a Whitworth attack error. The set saw 10 tie scores and three lead changes, and neither team took a lead greater than four points in the set. Additionally, both teams hit within .004 of each other, as Puget Sound hit. 115 and the Pirates hit .111.
The third set started much like the second, with neither team stretching three points together until the Loggers did so and took an 11-8 set lead with a Jenni Brehove ace. After a Whitworth timeout, the Pirates responded with four straight of their own, taking a 12-11 lead and forcing Puget Sound to take a time out. After the timeout, the Loggers took five of the next six points and a 16-13 set lead. The Pirates fought back, taking a 22-21 lead, but Puget Sound responded with two points of their own. The teams then continued to battle with both teams taking an advantage and both giving it up. Finally, the Loggers took the match 28-26 when a Whitworth attack sailed out of bounds and Jackie Harvey slammed down a kill, her 10th of the night.
The third set was even closer in terms of scoring, seeing 16 tie scores and eight lead changes. The Pirates outhit Puget Sound .213 to .152 in the set, however, but had just one more kill and two less errors than the Loggers.
Unlike the previous two sets, Whitman rushed out to a 7-2 lead in the fourth set, forcing Puget Sound to take a timeout. The pause worked as they rattled off five straight points to even the match at seven. Whitworth returned their lead to three, but Marissa Florant served up seven straight points to give the Loggers a 14-10 lead. Whitman drew even again at 14, but Puget Sound took five of the next six points and extended their lead to 19-15. The Loggers drew out their lead to 23-18, then retook the serve after a kill by Danielle Westerman needing just one point to end the match. They got that point with a Whitworth attack error forced by Brehove and Nicolette Reynaud in defense, winning the set 25-18 and the match three sets to one.
"I thought we were a little bit out of sync tonight," said Mark Massey, head coach of Puget Sound. "It took us three games for us to start serving the way we normally serve. When we did, I thought we started to take over a bit of the match tempo a bit. Whitworth did a really good job of putting a lot of service pressure tonight and it took as a while to solve their hitters. Once we figured out our blocking solutions to that, served a little bit tougher, we were ok."
Three Loggers tallied double-doubles tonight as Florant notched 18 digs and 14 kills, Harvey 17 digs and 12 kills, and Brehove saw 12 digs to go along with 46 assists. Whitworth's Lalana White led all players with 16 kills while the Pirates' Whitney Santos led the match with 28 digs as well. Both Reynaud and Briauna Stadeli of Whitworth tallied six total blocks, one solo block and five assists.
The Loggers (16-5, 11-1 Northwest Conference) wrap up their home schedule Saturday, Nov. 2nd with a 6:00 p.m. match against Whitman. Before the match, the squad's seven seniors will be honored for their dedication to Logger volleyball.
