SPOKANE, Wash. -- Cassie Moore set a school record with 36 digs, leading Whitworth's defensive effort in a 30-24, 21-30, 30-25, 28-30, 15-12 win over visiting Whitman in a Northwest Conference volleyball match on Wednesday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Moore set a school record with 36 digs

Florence had 22 kills

Moore totaled 36 digs to break the old five-game record of 34 set by Amy Colyar in 1992. She led a Pirate defensive effort that finished with 106 digs, including 31 by Nikki Bardwell. The Pirates also had 9.0 team blocks (2 solo, 14 assists).

Angie Florence tied for match high honors with Whitman's Lydia Hayes as each hammered 22 kills. Nicole Vander Meulen added 14 kills for the Bucs, while Rosa Brey had 16 and Leslie Compean had 14 for the Missionaries. Brey had six blocks to lead Whitman, while Tamra Stark also had six for Whitworth. Whitman's Kate Borsato dished 59 assists to lead all players, while Whitworth's Holly Ridings had 53 assists.

The Missionaries outhit the Pirates .192 to .129 and had ten more kills (73-63). But Whitman was hurt by 17 service aces, while Whitworth had a 9-5 edge in aces.

The Pirates led from the opening moments of the first game, jumping to leads of 10-6, 18-10 and 25-16 before eventually winning the game on a kill by Florence. Whitman used an 16-4 run in the second game to turn a 10-8 lead into a 26-12 advantage. They won the game on a kill by Hayes.

Whitworth won the third game by keeping Whitman at arm's length throughout. Once the Pirates took a 7-6 lead on a Missionary attack error, they never trailed. But they never shook free of Whitman either. The Pirates claimed their largest lead at 27-20 on back to back service aces by Florence and won the game on a service error by Hayes.

Whitman won the tightest game of the match with a key 5-0 run midway through. Tied 17-17, the Missionaries scored five straight, using two kills, an ace and two blocks, to go ahead 22-17. They still led 25-20, but three service errors down the stretch nearly helped the Pirates come back to win. Compean finally put the game away with a kill.

Whitman led the fifth game 6-3 after the Pirates served out of rotation, but Whitworth went on a 5-1 run to take an 8-7 lead into the switch over. The teams traded points from there until a block by Compean and Leslie Graves tied the game at 10-10. The Pirates scored the next three points to take a 13-10 lead and finally won the game on a kill by Florence.

Whitworth broke a two-match losing streak and improved to 4-14 overall and 3-4 in the NWC. Whitman dropped its third straight to fall to 7-8 and 3-4. Both teams host Pacific this weekend. The Missionaries host the Boxers on Friday night, while the Pirates host Pacific on Saturday.