Lutes Handle Boxers In NWC Volleyball Opener

Pacific returns to the home floor Saturday night, hosting Puget Sound in another Northwest Conference match-up.

Salem-News.com

FOREST GROVE - Pacific Lutheran rebounded from a nine-point deficit early in game one to take control rest of the way Friday, beating Pacific in three games, 30-22, 30-27, 30-23, in both team's Northwest Conference volleyball opener at the Pacific Athletic Center.

The Boxers (3-8, 0-1 NWC) hit well in the first half of game one, only to watch errors bring the Lutes (6-4, 1-0 NWC) back into it. The two teams played a tight game in the second set before PLU took early control in game three to seal the victory.

Kati McGinn led the Lutes with 15 kills and Stacie Matz finished with 13 as the team hit .234 for the match. Jill Peacock paced the Boxers with eight kills as Pacific finished with a .045 attack percentage.

Pacific used a pair of kills each from Sarah Braun. and Jill Peacock to open a 14-6 lead in game one, but watched the Lutes quickly turn the tide and tie the game at 16-16 on Kelcy Joynt's kill. A string of Pacific attack errors followed to make the lead 22-18. The Boxers came back to within three points, but gave up four more errors in the final stretch to take the 30-22 victory.

It appeared that Pacific would take advantage of a close contest in game, using a string of three Lutes' errors to build a 17-14 lead. The Boxers maintained the lead until McGinn's kill tied it up at 26-26, and a Pacific attack error gave PLU the 27-26 lead. Pacific tied it again on Kayleen Mitchell's kill, but two more kills by McGinn squeaked out the Lutes' win at 30-27.

Game three also opened close, with the Boxers again holding a narrow three-point lead, 8-5, on a Peacock kill. The advantage was short-lived, however, as Stacie Matz served 11 straight winners for the Lutes, buoyed by three Kyla Wytko kills, to build a 17-9 PLU lead. The Lutes would lead by as much as 10 points before Pacific cut the lead in half, 26-21, on Caitlin Gollehon's service ace. That's as close as Pacific would get, as a pair of errors closed the match in PLU's favor.

Pacific returns to the home floor Saturday night, hosting Puget Sound in another Northwest Conference match-up.

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