Lutes Halt Wildcats' Win Streak

PLU (13-4, 7-0) ended a three-match series losing streak to the Wildcats, handing Linfield (13-1, 6-1 NWC) its first loss of the season.

Linfield's Kelsey French Photo: Linfield Colege

McMINNVILLE - Pacific Lutheran middle blocker Kati McGinn hammered 29 kills to power the unranked Lutes to a five-game upset of No. 6 Linfield Friday night inside noisy Ted Wilson Gymnasium.

The scores were 20-30, 30-27, 30-28, 19-30, 15-10.

With first place in the Northwest Conference riding on the outcome, the draining two-hour and 15-minute match played out as a defensive gem.

McGinn's offense, combined with 106 digs and six team blocks by the Lutes (13-4, 7-0 NWC) paved the way for the spirited victory. Kelsy Joynt added a dozen kills and nine digs and Megan Kosel registered a match-high 38 digs for the Lutes.

Wildcats middle blocker Lauren Kreiger totaled a season-high 18 kills and dug 18 balls. Chelsey Gellatly passed out 49 assists and libero Hannah Veley recorded 28 of Linfield’s 110 digs. The Wldcats hit .155 at the net to the Lutes’ .108

Linfield cruised to an easy victory in the first game, jumping in front by double digits, 14-3, to begin the contest. The Lutes whittled the deficit to five, 19-14, following a Joynt kill. But the Wildcats got three kills from Katelyn Baker down the stretch to prevail 30-20. Baker finished with eight kills for the ‘Cats but was riddled with a team-high seven attack errors.

The second game was much tighter with neither squad gaining the early upper hand. Trailing by five, 24-19, the Lutes capitalized on three kills each from Joynt and McGinn to even the match.

PLU took a two-games-to-one lead, coming from six points down to eek out a hard-fought victory in the third stanza. Linfield led 17-11 before the Lutes rallied to tie the game at 23 on McGinn's kill. Consecutive kills by McGinn, Joynt and Stacie Matz sealed the result in the visitor's favor, 30-28.

The Wildcats reasserted themselves in the fourth frame, building a 14-8 advantage midway through the set. PLU crept to within five, 20-15 before Linfield pulled away for good, forcing a deciding game.

Three McGinn kills and a Wildcats ball-handing error allowed PLU to emerge from an 8-all deadlock in the pivotal fifth game. Trailing 12-8, the Wildcats called timeout and attempted to regroup. The Lutes kept the pressure on, finally ending the game and the match on a backhanded kill by Gina DiMaggio.

‘CAT SCRATCH: Heading into the weekend, Linfield led Northwest Conference statistics in hitting percentage (.217) and opponent hitting percentage (0.96). . . Gellatly is the NWC leader in assists (11.29 per game) and seventh in hitting percentage (.230). . . Emily Vuylsteke is fourth in hitting percentage (.265) and Michelle Wyatt is fifth in the conference in digs (4.15 per game). . . the Wildcats moved up one notch to No. 6 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Assocation poll . . . the lofty ranking is the highest in program history

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports