Oct. 17, 2007

Lutes Rally From Two Games Down to Beat Loggers

14th Consecutive Win Puts '07 Lutes Within One of School Record

Box Score

Beth Hanna - 25 kills

Stacie Matz - 24 kills

TACOMA - Pacific Lutheran came back from two games down to defeat host Puget Sound, 19-30, 25-30, 30-25, 30-28, 15-13, in a Northwest Conference volleyball match played Wednesday night in Memorial Fieldhouse.

The win was the 14th in a row for Pacific Lutheran, moving this team to within one win of tying the school consecutive victory record of 15 set by the 2004 Northwest Conference championship squad. It also gave the Lutes a three-match lead over both Puget Sound and Linfield in the loss column with five NWC matches left to play.

The action was befitting a battle between nationally ranked opponents as Pacific Lutheran (18-3 overall, 11-0 NWC) came into the contest with a 13-match winning streak and the No. 15 ranking in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III national poll. The Loggers (13-7 overall and 8-3 NWC) are ranked No. 19 in the national poll and had hoped to earn some retribution for a four-game loss to the Lutes in September.

For two games, at least, it looked like the Loggers would indeed get their revenge, especially after a convincing first game in which the Loggers pushed out to leads of 8-3, 18-12 and 26-13 behind the five kills of Kalli Kamphaus. The Lutes hit just .023 percent and committed an uncharacteristic 10 hitting errors in the game.

Puget Sound kept it going in the second game and Kamphaus again was the catalyst with six kills. There were 12 ties in the game, the last occurring at 17-17, before the Loggers prevailed 30-25.

Facing only their second two-game deficit this season and playing without injured middle blocker Kelcy Joynt, the Lutes rallied from a 7-3 deficit to win game three and keep the match going. PLU went to Matz several times in a row to earn an 8-8 tie, and they finally broke away from a 15-15 to lead by as many as six points before settling for the five-point win.

The two teams scraped for every point with 19 ties and eight lead changes in game four. Beth Hanna, who struggled early in the match, collected eight kills in the fourth games. After ties at 22, 24 and 26, kills by Matz and Hanna gave the Lutes a two-point lead, and the Lutes went to earn the 30-28 victory.

With the match on the line in the fifth game, UPS took a 4-0 lead on a kill by Denman, a Lute error, a service ace and a block by Bryant. The Lutes got three points back, but the Loggers pushed out to a 6-3 lead on a kill by Bryant and a Lute hitting error. Again the Lutes rallied to tie the game at 8-8, and the teams traded points until the score was tied at 12-12. PLU took charge on back-to-back Hanna kills to take a 14-12 lead, only to have Lindsey Denman answer with a Logger kill to make the score 14-13. Hanna finished out game five on a kill to give the Lutes the five-game victory.

Hanna and Matz both had big matches for the Lutes, contributing 25 and 24 kills, respectively. Setter Gina Di Maggio contributed 55 assists and libero Megan Kosel had an outstanding match with 36 of the Lutes' 110 digs.

Puget Sound had four hitters in double-digit kills led by 18 each from Kamphaus and Monica Groves, while Denman had 15 and Emma Bryant 12. Setter Jamee Fred had 57 assists, Rachel Gross compiled 32 of the Loggers' 103 team digs, and Bryant had a solid blocking effort with three solo and four assists.

The Loggers hit .187 as a team compared to .119 for the Lutes.

(Contributions by UPS Sports Information Office)

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