FOREST GROVE, Ore. -- The growing pains continued for the young Whitworth volleyball team at the Pacific Boxer Kick Off Invitational on Sunday. Whitworth dropped a pair of matches, including a five-set heartbreaker, to fall to 1-4 early this season. The following game summaries are supplied by Blake Timm, SID at Pacific.

Texas Lutheran def. #20 Whitworth 22-30, 30-28, 25-30, 32-30, 15-11
Box Score

The Bulldogs (2-1) handed Whitworth (1-3) their third straight loss of the invitational, outlasting the Pirates in the tournament's first five-game marathon. Whitworth posted one of its best games of the early season in game one, hitting .364. Texas Lutheran came from behind to collect game two. Whitworth took advantage of a poor hitting game by the Bulldogs to win game three, then watched as the Bulldogs came back from behind again to win game four in extra points. The Pirates were victim to five attack errors in the deciding game, as Texas Lutheran went ahead 8-1 at the turn and never looked back. Deanna Dahse led three Bulldogs in double digit kills, compiling a double-double of 21 kills and 11 digs. Angie Florence turned in a double-double for Whitworth with 20 kills and 18 digs, leading three Pirates in double digit kills.

No. 10 St. Thomas def. No. 20 Whitworth 30-21, 30-21, 30-21
Box Score

Whitworth (1-4) gave St. Thomas (4-0) their toughest challenge of the tournament, proving a formidable opponent to the Tommies in the first two games. The Pirates' attack, however, was not crisp as Whitworth hit .023 in game two, .023 in game three and .077 for the match. The Tommies had their challenges at the net as low, finishing with their tournament low of .186 for the match. Rachelle Dosch led the Tommies with 14 kills and 19 digs. Holly Tomlin led Whitworth with 10 kills and 15 digs.

Whitworth will next play at the University of La Verne on Thursday night at 6:00 pm, followed by an appearance at the Pacific Coast Classic tournament, co-hosted by Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The Pirates will play two matches on Friday, followed by two more on Saturday.

The last time Whitworth played La Verne was in the NCAA Regional championship last November in Spokane. The Leopards won that match to advance to the NCAA Finals. Whitworth's last win over ULV was the NCAA Regional semifinal in 2002.