SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Whitworth College volleyball team moved back into the CSTV/AVCA Division III Coaches Top 25 poll this week, appearing at 24th after improving to 8-2 overall and 4-0 in the Northwest Conference last week.

Click here for the complete CSTV/AVCA Division III poll .

Both of last week's wins were 3-0 sweeps over Linfield and Pacific. The win over Linfield ended the 10th-ranked Wildcats' unbeaten start to the season.

This week Whitworth travels west to take on Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran. Both UPS and PLU are 3-1 in the NWC and one game behind the Pirates in the conference standings.

Friday's game at Puget Sound will be the second meeting of the season between the Loggers (6-2, 3-1) and the Pirates. Puget Sound defeated Whitworth 30-21, 31-29, 30-25 in Tacoma on September 10th in a non-conference meeting between the teams. UPS ranks first in the NWC in kills per game (14.4) and aces per game (2.6). Outside hitter Kayla Roof has averaged 4.1 kills per game. The Loggers split their two contests last week, falling at PLU 30-23, 30-27, 30-19 before coming from two games behind to beat George Fox at home (17-15 in the fifth game).

Pacific Lutheran is the defending NWC champion and the Lutes are starting to play more like the team that rolled to last season's title. In addition to the Lutes' sweep over UPS last week, they defeated Lewis & Clark 30-24, 30-20, 30-26. Katie McGinn has been the top hitter, averaging 3.3 kills per game. Gina DiMaggio has dished 10.1 assists per game. PLU swept both meetings against the Pirates last season, winning by 3-1 scores each time.

One quarter of the way through the NWC season Whitworth is alone in first place in the conference standings. The Pirates rank second in the NWC in team hitting percentage (.230), opponent hitting percentage (.133) and assists per game (13.00). The Bucs rank third in kills per game (14.3) and blocks per game (1.97). Natalie Danielson (Sr., MB, Kennewick, Wash. - CC of Spokane), the week's NWC Player of the Week, leads the conference in hitting percentage (.370) and is third in kills per game (4.03). Bekah Hornor (Sr., S, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) is third in assists per game (11.03) and fifth in hitting percentage (.306).