Pirates Cannot Sustain Hot Start

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Consistent play continued to elude the Whitworth University volleyball team as the Pirates were beaten 25-19, 23-25, 25-19, 25-7 by visiting Lewis & Clark College in a Northwest Conference match on Saturday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

The Pirates, coming off of a home sweep of George Fox on Friday, fell to 9-14 overall and 5-7 in the conference and missed their chance to win on consecutive nights for the first time in 2009.

The Pioneers completed a perfect Eastern Washington road swing and improved to 12-9, 8-4.

Whitworth could not have gotten off to a better start in the first set after jumping out to an 8-0 lead, benefiting from five L&C attack errors. But after a timeout the Pioneers quickly began to chip away, pulling within 10-8 on a kill by Jennifer Dowdy and then taking a 14-11 lead on a block by Katherine Fiedler and Jessamy Holland. The Pioneers would not trail again in the first set, winning 25-19 on another kill by Dowdy.

Consecutive kills by Fiedler gave L&C and early 7-3 lead in the second set, but Whitworth answered with Tracy Schwada's (Sr., RS, Whitefish, Mont.) kill and block, leading to a 7-0 rally. The teams then traded leads five times until the Pirates went up 21-20 and eventually won 25-23 on a kill by Bree Riddle (So., S, Spokane, Wash.)

With the third set tied 8-8, Whitworth went on a quick 5-0 run and took a 13-8 lead on Ariana Obert's (So., DS, Deer Park, Wash.) service ace. But the Pioneers answered right back with their own 10-1 run and led 18-14 after a Pirate error. Margaret Dowling eventually won the set at 25-19 with a kill.

After Whitworth got within 7-5 early in the final set on a block by Randi Stephens (Jr., MB, Bozeman, Mont.) and Brynn DeLong (Jr., OH, Spokane, Wash.), L&C went on a 10-0 run for a 17-5 lead. Then after two more Pirate points, the Pioneers closed the match on another 8-0 run to finish with an 18-2 scoring spurt.

Schwada led Whitworth with 12 kills and a .323 hitting percentage. Obert had 18 digs and Kaimi Rocha (So., OH, Pukalani, Hawaii) totaled eight kills and 12 digs. Stephens had five blocks (one solo, four assists).

Fiedler led L&C with 16 kills and five blocks, while Dowdy finished with 14 kills. Holland led all players with seven blocks (one solo, six assists), while Leia Matsunaga dished 50 assists.

Lewis & Clark swept the season series with Whitworth.

Next weekend the Pirates hit the road to play at Puget Sound (Friday) and Pacific Lutheran (Saturday).