Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Down a game and trailing late in the second, Whitman College's volleyball team rallied with four straight points to take Game 2 and even the score then rolled to two more wins in downing visiting Whittier (Calif.) College, 3-1, Saturday night in the closing contest of the 2014 Whitman Classic hosted by the Missionaries at the Sherwood Athletics Center. Earlier in the day the Missionaries were victimized by Whitworth University, which won all four of its games at the Classic, in a 3-0 loss.

The opening game against Whittier (1-4) was a point-by-point battle and the score was tied three times after being knotted at 23-23. The Poets closed out the victory with two points after Whitman (3-2) had tied it a final time at 26-26. Game 2 was much of the same with 12 ties and five lead changes. The turning point in the match came late with Whittier ahead 23-21 and looking to go up two on the host school.

Whitman, however, reeled off four points in a row and ended it with a service ace by Abby Seethoff.

The third game wasn't a contest as Whitman opened with a pair of service aces from Anna Dawson and never looked back. In the 25-10 rout Whitman never trailed and allowed Whittier to tally consecutive points only once as it pasted the Poets with nine service aces.

The fourth game was more competitive with the teams trading the lead several times up until a 10-10 tie. Anna Dawson's kill had pulled Whitman even, and three more points gave the Missionaries a lead it wouldn't relinquish. The advantage grew to as many as five on three occasions while Whittier could climb no closer than three points away. Whitman finished off the win on a three-point roll to extend the winning margin to six in a clinching 25-19 victory.

Megan Bafus posted a team-high 13 kills in the win over the Poets and added three block assists to the Missionaries' 11.0 blocks in the match. Shae Kanakaole added 12 kills and a block assist while Kaileah Akker ripped 10 kills, picked up two solo blocks and added a block assist. Despite that trio's strong night on the attack, Whittier's Rebecca Slattery came away with the game-high in kills, keeping her Poets in the contest with 18 in the loss.

Five Whitties contributed to the team's 16 service aces led by five from Dawson and four by Hannah Linsenmayer. Jordan Ng chipped in with three and both Natalia Zea and Seethoff contributed two apiece. Dawson tied for game-high honors in block assists as she and Whittier's Torrey Mitsunaga totaled 36 in the match.

Defensively, Dawson led Whitman with 13 digs while Seethoff accumulated 11, but Casie Lowden of Whittier registered the most in the match, coming up with 20 in a losing effort.

The early match of the day for Whitman started with a 25-13 loss to Whitworth. But the Missionaries rebounded in Game 2, eventually breaking out to a 20-14 lead, a 21-17 advantage, and a 23-19 edge. Whitworth, though, rallied to cut into the deficit and eventually out scored Whitman 10-4 at the end of the match to take the second game, 29-27. The Pirates closed out the match with a 25-15 win in Game 3.

Bafus registered a team-best seven kills in the loss with Dawson posting 22 set assists and Linsenmayer coming up with a match-best 20 digs.

The All-Classic team included Bafus from Whitman and Slattery from Whittier, Brittany Docherty from Mills (Calif.) College, and Alexe Navarro and Ali Carleton from Lewis & Clark College. Classic champion Whitworth was represented by MVP Maddye Dinsmore, Nicole Leonard and Brenna Bruil.

Next up for Whitman is a trip to the East Coast and Boston where the Missionaries will play four games in the UMass-Boston Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 12-13.