No. 15 Linfield Wins Two Games Friday, Now 3-0

Linfield and Northwest Conference rival Pacific Lutheran, both 2-0 at the Invitational, meet Saturday at 2:00 PM. The Wildcats later face Concordia-Austin at 4:00 PM before returning home to Oregon.

Linfield's Kelsey French Photo courtesy: Linfield College

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Linfield Wildcats are for real.

The 15th-ranked Wildcats, off to a 3-0 start to the season, added two more wins to their ledger, including a three-game sweep of a Top 25 team Friday at the Colorado College Invitational.

Competing at the Colorado College Invitational, Linfield topped No. 25 Elmhurst 30-21, 30-28, 30-16, then knocked off host Colorado College 30-32, 30-28, 30-26, 30-20 to run its record to 5-0.

Last season, the Wildcats bolted to a 10-0 start, then went on to reach the West Region semifinals of the NCAA Division III championships.

Linfield got a boost against Elmhurst of Illinois when Katelyn Baker returned to the lineup following an injury that had kept the junior outside hitter sidelined all of last weekend. Baker responded with a team-high 10 kills and two services aces, while Lauren Kreiger and Lisa Brocard both added nine.

Linfield hit a season-best .429 at the net while holding Elmhurst (2-3) to a .120 clip.

Libero Michelle Wyatt dug six balls for the Wildcats. Kelsey French made two solo blocks while adding five kills. Chelsey Gellatly passed out 35 assists.

Jessica Nelson totaled a match-high 12 kills for Elmhurst and Carly Bearwald added 11.

Linfield dropped its first game of the young season, 32-30, in the opening set against Colorado College. But the Wildcats came right back, winning three tight frames for the victory.

Baker again led the ‘Cats with 14 kills. She added 15 digs and a pair of blocks. Kreiger totaled five blocks, including two solo, while digging 12 balls and collecting eight kills.

Gellatly made seven kills while piling up 49 assists, and Wyatt was tough defensively, scooping up 23 digs.

The Tigers’ Michelle Rybka tallied a match-high 20 kills.

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