WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Tuesday night was the season debut for more than just Whitman College's 2015 women's volleyball team as it was also joined by the first official gathering of the Whit City student cheering section at Sherwood Athletics Center. Neither group would walk away disappointed as the Missionaries closed out a 3-1 non-conference victory over visiting Walla Walla University on a
Shae Kanakaole kill, her match-leading 15th of the night, while Whit City helped raise the roof several times and helped lift attendance to a stands-packed 444.
Kanakaole's finishing attack was the culmination of a game 4 rally which saw Whitman erase a five-point deficit midway through the game.
Trailing 17-12 Whitman's
Brooke Randall kicked off a six point run that finished with a block from
Natalia Zea and
Anna Dawson for an 18-17 advantage.
A two-point spurt from the Wolves stole the lead back but a Dawson killed knotted the score at 19-19 and the Missionaries never trailed after that.
The final points weren't easy, however, as the score knotted itself four more times. The final tie was at 24-24 when Kanakaole and
Kaileah Akker blocked an attack from WWU's Natalie Skeoch to provide Whitman with it's second match point of game 4. From the front left Kanakaole then pounded a set from Dawson back across the face of a Walla Walla block attempt for the match-winner, sending Whitman to it's first win of the 2015 season and the Whit City cheering section into one final frenzy.
Kanakaole's stellar night wasn't only on the attack as she finished with a match-best five service aces and added 2.5 blocks. Chipping in handily on the attack was
Abby Seethoff whose 11 kills trailed only Kanakaole at the end of the night. Randall, in her collegiate debut, was next in line with nine kills.
Dawson led all players with 37 assists to set up Kanakaole and the rest of the attack, and added a team-best 15 digs. Picking up where she finished last season -- seventh in the nation in blocks per game -- Zea closed out her night with a match-best four blocks while also providing six kills and a service ace.
Whitman has a short rest before hopping in a plane and heading to the Southwest for its next matches. The Missionaries will play in the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Invitational in Belton, Texas, on Sept. 4-5 when they will face Hardin-Simmons University, East Texas Baptist University, Trinity (Texas) University and the host Crusaders.
