SPOKANE, Wash. - Whitworth University will take its first Northwest Conference road trip of the season this week when the Pirates play at Willamette University on Friday and Linfield College on Saturday. Both matches are at 7:00 p.m. Whitworth (6-4 overall, 1-1 NWC) is coming off of a home split last weekend, beating Pacific 3-1 before nearly pulling out a miracle 3-2 comeback win against George Fox.

Rusch had 52 kills last weekend for the Pirates

Big Weekend: Whitworth's Sarah Rusch (Jr., MB, Walla Walla, Wash.) had a huge weekend for the Pirates. In Friday's win she had 19 kills, nine blocks and an ace. On Saturday she led a comeback from a two-games-to-none deficit against George Fox with 33 kills and a .460 hitting percentage. The 33 kills in one match is the second highest known total in school history to the record of 38 set by Tara Fredrickson.

Leading the League : Whitworth is proving to be a frustrating opponent to play. The Pirates lead the Northwest Conference in digs per game, averaging 21.05. Because they are sending so many balls back over the net, the Pirates are also leading the NWC in opponent hitting percentage (.114).

Cassie Moore (Sr., Lib., Spokane, Wash.) also leads the NWC in two individual categories. She is tops in both aces per game (0.92) and digs per game (6.41). Earlier this season she set school records for aces in a match (9, twice) and digs in a match (35).

Coming up: Willamette goes into the weekend with an overall record of 2-8 and a Northwest Conference mark of 0-2. The Bearcats lost 3-0 at Linfield last Wednesday and 3-0 at co-defending NWC champion Pacific Lutheran over the weekend. But Willamette does own a 3-1 win over the Pirates at the Whitworth Invitational earlier this season. Last year Whitworth defeated the Bearcats twice, winning 3-2 in Salem and 3-0 in Spokane.

Linfield, the other defending conference co-champion, is 5-5 overall and 1-1 in the NWC this fall. The Wildcats followed last week's home win over Willamette with a 3-1 loss at Puget Sound. Last season Linfield swept Whitworth 3-0 both in Oregon and in Spokane on the way to a 22-3 overall record.

The Coach: Steve Rupe is in his ninth season as Whitworth's head volleyball coach and has served longer in this capacity than any coach in program history. Rupe has been named the Northwest Conference Coach of the Year twice (2001, 2002) AVCA Regional Coach of the Year once (2005) and has become the second-winningest coach in school history with a record of 137-82 (.626). Under his direction, the Pirates have won three NWC titles and have advanced to the NCAA Division III regional finals twice (2002, 2005).