Sept. 21, 2007

22nd-Ranked Lutes Sweep Away George Fox

Box Score

Stacie Matz - 19 kills, 12 digs

NEWBERG, Ore. – Spoiling the 2007 home opener for the George Fox University Bruins, the 22nd-ranked Pacific Lutheran University Lutes overpowered the Bruins with nearly double the kills in a 3-0 victory (30-23, 30-10, 30-26) in Northwest Conference women’s volleyball action on Friday night at the Wheeler Sports Center’s Miller Gym.

The Bruins held their own against the conference favorites in the early going, opening up a 17-12 first-game lead on a block by Sarah Crossfield and Natalie Pickett. The Lutes finally got their offense clicking, however, and out-scored the Bruins 18-6 the rest of the way to take the opener.

The Lutes were hitting on all cylinders in game two, connecting for a .405 percentage (19 kills and only two errors) to .000 for the Bruins (seven kills but seven errors). PLU had leads of 9-2, 15-4, and 20-6, and closed out the game with a pair of service aces by Olivia Fagerberg.

PLU trailed only once, after the first point, in game three, but the Bruins hung close behind the hitting of Elizabeth Anderson, who had six kills in the game. The Bruins closed within two points late in the game at 27-25 on a block by Anderson and Pickett, but the Lutes secured the match with kills by Kelcy Joynt and Stacie Matz and a match-ending Bruin attack error.

Anderson led the Bruins with nine kills and Amy Batchelder had 26 assists. Carli Bowman made 16 digs on defense. The Bruins hit only .068, their lowest mark of the season, with 30 kills and 22 errors in 117 chances.

Led by their powerful tandem of Matz and Beth Hanna, who had 19 kills apiece, the Lutes hit .284 with 57 kills and 17 errors in 141 attempts. Joynt added 14 kills, while Gina Di Maggio passed out 47 assists. Megan Kosel led the defense with 13 digs, while Matz had 12 and Joynt 10.

George Fox (6-4, NWC 1-2) visits Lewis & Clark College while Pacific Lutheran (9-3, NWC 4-0) hosts California State University-East Bay in a non-conference game Saturday, both at 7 p.m.

(Courtesy George Fox Sports Information Office)