McMINNVILLE, Ore. – It was a rallying kind of night for the Whitman College volleyball team as the Missionaries refused to let a win slip away Friday evening in their 3-2 Northwest Conference victory over host Linfield College at the Wildcats' Ted Wilson Gymnasium. The Whitman victory, led by Abby Seethoff's 13 kills, was Whitman's first conference win of the season.

The opening game of the night set the relentless tone the Missionaries (3-8, 1-4 NWC) would display throughout the evening as they trailed most of the game until scoring eight of the game's final 11 points, including a 5-0 run at the end to break the hearts of a Linfield (4-10, 1-4) squad that had been one point away from the set victory.

Whitman's deficit had been as large as six, at 19-13, but it crept back into the game until trailing by only one at 21-20. The Wildcats fought off the challenge, however, inching one point away from a win at 24-21, and with the serve. A Seethoff kill notched the first point of the finishing run, with Natalia Zea's service ace adding the next point. Seethoff and Brooke Randall teamed up for a block that knotted the score at 24-24 and a Linfield attack error turned the tables in the Missionaries' favor. Another Seethoff kill finally completed the come back to enable Whitman to snare an early lead in the match with the 26-24 win.

Games 2 and 3 were mirror images of each other. Mirrored, as in one team never trailed in the second game, a 25-14 Linfield win, followed by the other team never trailing in the third's 25-22 Whitman win.

The Wildcats broke out to a fast start in the fourth game, eventually building the early lead into an 18-11 advantage.

Tone, though. Already established.

The Missionaries reeled off eight straight points to vault into a 19-18 lead and inch themselves closer to a match win. Nothing would be that easy on this night, though, as Linfield turned the tide here just as Whitman had in the opener, fending off a match-deciding point to soon after take a 26-24 win itself, sending the match into a deciding fifth game.

Itching, if not rubbing raw, a desire to end a difficult losing streak the Missionaries just wouldn't quit. This would be their night as they never trailed in a 15-8 victory to secure the match, not only putting a mark in their conference win column, but also ending a more than two-year losing streak against Linfield having not defeated the Wildcats since early in the 2012 season.

Seethoff and Megan Henry, with 11 kills, paced the Whitman attack Friday, also getting help at the net from Katie Sisson's eight kills. The offense was also aided by an 11-7 edge in service aces with Seethoff piling up five and Hannah Linsenmayer chipping in three more.

Linsenmayer was the match leader -- often with incredible saves all over the floor -- defensively, coming up with a match-best 19 digs during the victory. Anna Dawson, with nine digs, also played an important two-way role in the victory, closing her evening with a match-high 33 assist.

Whitman will shoot for its first winning streak of the year when it takes on host Pacific (Ore.) University Saturday in Forest Grove, Oregon, at 5 p.m.