WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Whitman College battled through a tough Northwest Conference match Saturday night against Pacific Lutheran University at the Sherwood Center. After grabbing a one set advantage, the Missionaries were unable to maintain the lead, eventually falling 3-1. Whitman fought to the bitter end, but PLU proved to be too much.
 
Shae Kanakaole collected 16 kills on the night and Natalia Zea added ten. Kanakaole led all players in the category as she wound up just one kill short of her previous night 17. The Missionaries tied their season high as a team with 57 kills and finished one off their season-high 10 service aces. First year, Codie Conching was one of three Whits with double-digit digs and led the team with 14 of the total 58.
 
Whitman (4-12, 2-8 NWC) fell behind early in the first set, but stormed back, taking seven of ten points and pulling within a single point Pacific Lutheran (12-7, 6-4 NWC). The Missionaries eventually broke through at 15-14; from there the lead went back-and-forth until end with Whitman winning 25-22.
 
The second set of the match proved to be tight from wire-to-wire, with neither team leading by more than three games at a time. The Missionaries held the lead early, but spent the remainder of the match tied or narrowly trailing before the Lutes finished it 25-22.
 
After a ten minute break, PLU handled Whitman in the third set 25-19 and grabbed a 2-1 lead on the match. The Missionaries grabbed control early in the fourth set, holding a 10-4 advantage. Pacific Lutheran slowly crept back into the game before rattling off 12 straight points to pull ahead of the Whitties, 19-12. Whitman would answer by taking six of eight games and cutting the Lute lead to three, but the deficit proved to be too much to overcome as PLU would win 25-20 in what ended up being the final set of the night.
 
Whitman hits the road for their next game Wednesday night against conference leader Whitworth University (14-6, 8-2 NWC) in Spokane.