WALLA WALLA, Wash.  Codie Conching, Megan Henry and Kalli Dickey launched a furious attack Wednesday evening in the Sherwood Athletic Center, pounding out a combined 36 kills in Whitman's 3-1 victory over visiting Whitworth University in Northwest Conference women's volleyball action.

The Blues (6-10, 6-5 NWC) move up to fourth place in the league standings with the win while the Pirates (11-8, 8-3) maintain hold of second place but fall to 1.5 games behind the top spot.

Wednesday's 35-21, 25-21, 21-25, 25-16 triumph was also the first over Whitworth since October 17, 2012, head coach Matt Helm's first season at Whitman.

The complexion of the night's contest was far different than earlier in the season when the host Pirates swept aside the Blues for an early-season win.

The only time Whitman trailed in the opening set was after the first point. A kill from Henry evened the score and one from Conching launched the Blues in front. Whitworth pulled back even at 8-8 but an attack error followed by an Anna Dawson kill began to open the door. That two-point lead became three points, which inched to four point and grew to five points on several occasions before the Blues settled for a four-point set win.

The second and third sets were vastly different, though. Combined, the two sets included 25 tie scores and 15 lead changes. At one point in the third set, between 8-8 and a 13-12 Whitman advantage, there were four ties and five alternating lead changes.

In the second set it wasn't until the 12th tie, at 20-20 that a team broke free from the other, with Whitman reeling off a 5-1 run to end the game and head into the 10-minute break with a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Pirates in game three were the team that found something late, ending a 20-20 deadlock -- the 13th of the set -- with their own 5-1 run.

Though the momentum appeared to have flipped at the end of the third set, good old 'mo' would be fickle and flip again, back to Whitman's side where it stayed this time.

The Blues never trailed in the fourth, allowing just a 3-3 tie before a 4-0 run -- fueled by Conching serves, and blocks from Dickey, Dawson and Lara Temel -- ignited the fire burning from that previous match in Spokane, Washington.

Whitman simply took control of the higher-seeded team, never let up, and steamrolled through the final points.

"Out of system," said Helm after the match. "We did a really good job of getting them out of system all night, and that allowed us to play the way we wanted things to go," he explained.

Conching's 15 kills led all attackers, but Henry's 11 and Dickey's 10 combined for more than 75 percent of Whitman total.

Dickey committed just three attacking errors all match, finishing with a .318 attack percentage. She also added a pair of solo blocks and two block assists to her powerful presence at the net.

Setting up the attack was Dawson; whose 39 set assists were the fourth time in five matches in which she's topped 30.

Cherokee Washington provided a career night as the Blues' Libero, coming up with a career-best 23 digs as the team built its 62-53 edge. Washington's season total of 169 is already a career high, with five matches still to play.

The mid-week contest means the Blues will play only once over the weekend, traveling to Salem, Oregon, for a conference match Friday at Willamette University.