WALLA WALLA, Wash.  Whitman volleyball labored under the fickle sign of inconsistency this weekend, and its foothold in the upper-middle of the Northwest Conference standings took a hit for it.

For the second time in as many nights, Whitman fell in five games. It could not close out visiting Linfield College after leading the match 1-0 and 2-1 at Sherwood Center on Saturday and absorbed a 21-15, 25-15, 21-25, 25-27, 15-9 loss.

Shae Kanakaole had 13 kills and 20 digs, Natalia Zea 12 kills and five blocks and Anna Dawson 41 assists, four blocks and 11 digs in a losing cause for Whitman (9-11 overall), which fell into a fourth-place tie with Pacific at 6-6 in conference.

Whitman looked at worst capable and at best lethal in the first game. Dawson had two of the squad's first three kills and spread the ball to three different targets as Whitman built an early lead. After Linfield rallied to tie it with a 4-0 run that would prove a harbinger of darker times ahead, Zea's emphatic stuff block sparked a string of five unanswered points for the home team, which coasted to the finish.

Linfield pressed back to within a two points before a Megan Henry kill, then block, booked the Whitman win. But the Wildcats also began to establish hitters Darian Stedman and Molly McTaggart, who would swell from pests to predators at critical junctures to come.

Linfield dominated Game 2, as Whitman could not find traction. The visitors had three 4-0 runs and a 5-0 run.

Whitman set Kanakaole most consistently in re-claiming the lead in the third game, where she had five of her kills, but no momentum carried over. Linfield led 6-1, 8-2, 13-4 and 17-8 in a game-four romp.

Whitman fell behind 10-5 in the decisive fifth set before two kills by Katie Sisson, a Megan Henry kill and Brooke Randall block brought a salvaged match into clear view. Whitman was whistled for a net violation, however, and Linfield scored the final five points of the night.

Randall had eight kills and five blocks, and Henry seven kills and five blocks for the Whits. Codie Conching added 28 digs.

Stedman had 18 kills and McTaggart 14 for Linfield.