WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Looking to split the season series Whitman College's volleyball team was one game away from capturing Friday night's Northwest Conference match with Linfield College, but the visiting Wildcats rallied with wins in the final two games to steal a 3-2 victory at the Sherwood Athletics Center and complete the season sweep of the pesky Missionaries.

Whitman (8-14, 4-9 NWC) bounced back from a 25-22 loss in the evening's opening game with consecutive wins, 25-19 and 25-21, in the second and third to pull ahead of Linfield (9-9, 8-5) heading into what could have been the clinching game for the Missionaries.

Whitman pulled even at 6-6 in Game 4 on a Shae Kanakaole service ace but Linfield earned a side-out point then reeled off eight more that pushed its lead to 15-6 before a Kanakaole kill halted the 9-0 Wildcats run. The Missionaries would battle back to within four at 21-17 but could not inch closer in the 25-18 loss that squared the match at two games apiece.

The teams traded points early in the deciding fifth before Linfield inched ahead 6-3, but Whitman wrested the lead away with a four-point run fueled by a pair of Natalia Zea kills. Though the Wildcats won the next point to tie the game at 7-7 Whitman added the next two to slip back into the lead, 9-7.

This time it was a four-point run by Linfield that altered the lead, and this time the advantage would stick as the Wildcats held off the Missionaries over the match's final moments to steal away with a 15-11 win to seal their come-from-behind match victory.

Kanakaole led all players with 18 kills on the night while Linfield's Kailana Ritte-Camara paced the Wildcats with 16. Anna Dawson set up the Whitman attack with a match-high 38 assists, out-doing Linfield's Jamie Talbo who aided the Wildcats attack with 29 assists.

Defensively, Whitman's Hannah Linsenmayer came up with a match-best 22 digs while Zea and Franny Gardner supplied three block assists each at the net. Linfield, though, won the defensive battle at the net accumulating 9.0 blocks to only 6.0 by the Missionaries in their loss. Danielle Spirlin came away with one solo block and five block assists for the Wildcats.

Northwest Conference action continues Saturday at 5 p.m. for Whitman as it hosts Willamette University in the final home match of the season for the Missionaries and seniors Megan Bafus and Gardner. The pair will be honored in a brief ceremony after the contest against the Bearcats.