Pirates Bounce Back from Rough Start at Home

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Whitworth University won three of four volleyball matches over the weekend to finish second at the Colorado College Pikes Peak Challenge to the host Tigers.

The Pirates, who lost three matches at home to start the season, have bounced back to improve to 3-4 overall this season.

Kaimi and Ka'ipo Rocha were both named to the all-tournament team.

On Friday Whitworth earned its first victory of the season, defeating Benedictine (Ill.) in three straight sets. Kaimi Rocha led the Bucs with seven kills, while Morgan Veleke and Tracy Schwada each had six kills. Ka'ipo Rocha and Alex Bolduc had three blocks apiece.

In the final match of the evening, the Pirates lost to host Colorado College in three sets. The 18th-ranked Tigers hit .252 as a team on the way to the sweep. Ka'ipo Rocha had five kills to lead Whitworth.

The Pirates played their best volleyball of the season to date on Saturday, beginning with a strong straight-sets win over Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The Pointers had pushed Colorado College in four hard sets earlier on Saturday, but Whitworth rolled to the win behind a season-high .301 hitting percentage. Kaimi Rocha had a season-high 12 kills, while Ka'ipo Rocha added nine kills. Each had three blocks. Bree Riddle and Jordon Hoffnagle dished 15 assists each.

The Pirates closed the tournament with an easy straight-sets win over Kenyon (Ohio). Whitworth improved its hitting percentage to .323 in the victory. Brynn DeLong played her best match as a Pirate, finishing with 12 kills, while Ka'ipo Rocha totaled 10 kills and three more blocks.

Whitworth will return to tournament play again this coming week when the Pirates participate in the Cal-Lu-Fornia Classic hosted by California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. Whitworth will play Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and host CLU on Friday, then take on nationally-ranked La Verne and Trinity (Texas) on Saturday.