Oct. 4, 2006

Volleyball: Lutes to Battle Linfield for NWC Lead

THIS WEEK: PLU at Linfield, Friday, 7 p.m.; at George Fox, Saturday, 7 p.m.

NWC LEAD AT STAKE: Pacific Lutheran travels to McMinnville, Ore., this Friday for a match against the Linfield Wildcats. The match pits the top two teams in the Northwest Conference, with the winner taking over the conference leadership. The Lutes go into the match on the wave of a seven-match winning streak. The two teams have played already this year, however, and Linfield beat the Lutes in the Colorado College Invitational on Sept. 9. The game scores were 32-30, 33-31 and 30-24, but PLU was serving for game point in each of the first two games. That would indicate that Friday’s match ought to be a close one. And with the early conference lead on the line, there is added importance.

GEORGE FOX ON SATURDAY: In addition to playing at Linfield on Friday, the Lutes will play the George Fox Bruins on Saturday night in Newberg, Ore. The Lutes and Bruins played each other back on the opening weekend of the season, PLU taking a 30-21, 25-30, 30-26, 30-27 victory at the Puget Sound Invitational hosted by the UPS Loggers.

WEEKEND WINS AGAINST WHITMAN, WHITWORTH: It by no means was easy, but Pacific Lutheran picked up a pair of wins against Whitman and Whitworth last weekend in Olson Auditorium. Friday night’s tussle with Whitman offered plenty of suspense as the Lutes won in five games, 30-22, 30-27, 21-30, 23-30, 15-12. The Lutes looked good early, then Whitman got its offense and front-line defense going to even up the games at two apiece. The deciding fifth game was a close contest until junior outside hitter Stacie Matz (Tacoma, Wash. / Wilson HS) made what may have been the play of the match, making an outstanding dig that led to a PLU point and a 13-10 lead. The Lutes closed out the game and the match. Matz had a big game with 23 kills, and senior middle blocker Kati McGinn (Puyallup, Wash. / Puyallup HS) added 20 kills. The following night, the Lutes held off a determined Whitworth team, 30-14, 22-30, 30-13, 31-29. As the game scores indicate, the Lutes were dominant in the first and third games, while the visiting Pirates had their way in the second and – mostly – in the fourth games. In fact, Whitworth had game point at 29-25 in the fourth game when the Lutes scored six straight points, all coming on Whitworth errors. Matz again led the Lutes with 13 kills, and freshman outside hitter Kelcy Joynt (Wasilla, Alaska / Colony HS) added 12 more. Junior libero Megan Kosel (Puyallup, Wash. / Emerald Ridge HS) contributed 24 digs.

- PLU -