TACOMA, Wash. When they were in junior high, Saturday night's type of result wasn't even the flicker of a thought in their minds.

Better than just an idea, though, the players for Whitman's current volleyball team can now tuck a win over Pacific Lutheran University into their backpacks as the Blues rallied from the brink of defeat for a 3-2 Northwest Conference win over the host Lutes -- Whitman's first win over PLU since October 13, 2012, and first win at PLU since October 4, 2003.

Trailing in the match, 2-1 (25-18, 20-25, 11-25) at Olson Gymnasium, and facing another loss in the teams' shared history book, Whitman bounced back courageously and emphatically, never trailing in a 25-20 Game 4 victory.

And once Kalli Dickey's attack hit the floor on the PLU side in the deciding game to push the Blues in front, 6-5, Whitman again never trailed in its match-closing 17-15 win.

The tide turned in Whitman's match-opening victory tied at 10-10 with a Lara Temel kill. The point initiated a 4-0 run that the Blues expanded on over the course of the rest of the game.

Pacific Lutheran evened the match with a hard-fought Game 2 win, then raced out to a 10-2 lead at the beginning of their 14-point Game 3 win.

The Whitman women halted the PLU momentum right away at the start of the fourth, getting a block from Temel and Katie Sisson for the first point and a service ace from Temel for the second point.

Soon after, consecutive service aces from Megan Henry pushed the Blues' advantage to 6-1. Only late in the game did PLU creep to within four points, but a Sisson kill followed by an attacking error on PLU's side of the net closed out the win to set up the thrilling finish.

Dickey's lead-changing kill in that final set was followed by another, and a PLU error pushed Whitman's edge to 8-5.

At 10-7 the Blues got a service ace from Claire McCarthey, and it looked like the long drought would be over soon.

But not so fast, said the Lutes. They weren't second in the league last season and picked to finish second again this fall by simply showing up. They gamely battled back to tie the score at 14-14 and then again at 15-15, certainly causing a bit of anguish on the Whitman bench.

This team, though, really wasn't part of the string of losses at the hands of the Lutes. Only one of three seniors, setter Anna Dawson, has been in the program all four years. And the four juniors were facing PLU for only the fifth time in their careers. The rest of the team -- nine of them! -- are only first years.

Ignorance was bliss, Saturday, as a stunning block on the right side by Dawson and Brooke Randall ignored history and lifted the Blues to a 16-15 lead.

And this time, this season, this year, the unsteadiness under pressure came from the PLU side as a push to clear the net for a free ball squarely hit the tape and fell to the floor -- on the PLU side, sending Whitman to the victory, it's first of the 2017 season.

Sisson posted a team-best 14 kills for Whitman while also adding five digs and a block assist. Henry and Dickey each hit double-figures in kills, too, registering 11 each in the win.

Dawson filled the stat sheet with 34 set assists, six kills, a service ace, 24 digs and three block assists.

Most in need of a clean uniform was Codie Conching, who scooped up, hit the floor or poked at PLU attacks for a match-best 38 digs. Dawson (24 digs) and McCarthy (22) will also make good use of laundry services.

Whitman is on the road for its next match, an NWC battle with East-side rival Whitworth on Wednesday, before returning home for a conference match Saturday against Willamette.