The Whitworth College volleyball heads into Northwest Conference play this week after posting a 1-9 record vs. non-conference opponents during the first two weeks of the season. While certainly not up to the standards set by previous Pirate teams, this young team hopes to take the hard lessons learned and put them to good use during league play.

Whitworth went 0-5 during a weekend trip to Southern California. The Pirates were beaten in three games at La Verne (30-22, 30-20, 30-21) in what was a rematch of last fall's NCAA Regional in school name only.

A the Pacific Coast Classic, co hosted by Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the Pirates dropped both matches on Saturday. Whitworth lost its tournament opener 3-0 (30-24, 30-22, 30-21) to UC Santa Cruz, the same team the Bucs defeated in the season opener. Whitworth then lost 3-0 on the home floor of C-M-S, also by a 3-0 score (30-22, 30-22, 30-24).

On Saturday at Pomona-Pitzer, the Pirates looked on the way to their first win of the tournament, but lost in five games to Chapman (27-30, 23-30, 30-18, 30-28, 15-8). Whitworth then concluded the tournament with a 3-0 loss to Redlands (30-17, 30-20, 30-26).

The games do not get much easier this week as the team opens NWC play. Whitworth will play at Linfield College on Friday night in the conference opener for both schools. The Wildcats are undefeated (7-0) and ranked 10th in the latest AVCA poll. Whitworth will then face La Verne a second time this fall, meeting the Leopards Saturday afternoon at 1:00 pm at Willamette University. Then the Pirates will close the weekend with a conference match at Willamette on Saturday night (6:00 pm). The Bearcats are 3-6 this season after splitting four matches at the same Pacific Coast Classic.