MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – The Whitman College women's volleyball team bounced back with a four-set Northwest Conference win at Linfield on Friday at Ted Wilson Gymnasium. Set scores were 25-12, 21-25, 25-22, 25-16.
The Blues improved to 8-7 overall and 6-3 in the NWC. Linfield fell to 7-9 and 4-5.
Whitman outhit the Wildcats .225 to .126. Both teams had 47 kills, but the Blues made 10 fewer attack errors (16 to 26).
Addie Belt led Whitman with 12 kills and added 10 digs, an ace and a block assist. Sammy Holmer had 11 kills, 15 digs, two aces and two block assists. Arina Gushchina had 10 kills, a team-high 16 digs, two aces and two block assists.
Rowyn Lee hit .353 with seven kills and had three blocks, one of them solo. Kendall Herman added four kills on .364 hitting.
Haylee Pruse had 16 assists and 10 digs, and Melia Ferraro added 14 assists. Libero Lexie Uchima had 13 digs.
Whitman took over the first set early. After Linfield won the opening point, the Blues scored eight of the next nine for an 8-1 lead and cruised to a 25-12 win. Whitman hit .324 in the set and held Linfield to .024.
Linfield evened the match in the second set. With the score tied 6-6, Madison Millard's serving run put the Wildcats ahead 11-6. Gushchina served four straight points to pull Whitman within 11-10, but Linfield pulled away and won 25-21.
The third set was the closest of the match. Whitman led 19-13 before Linfield rallied to tie it at 20-20. The Blues then scored five of the last seven points. Holmer had back-to-back kills for a 23-20 lead, Belt's kill made it 24-22, and a Linfield attack error ended the set.
Whitman controlled the fourth set from start to finish. Gushchina's serving turned a 4-3 lead into 8-3, and Uchima served four straight points, including an ace, to make it 13-4. Linfield cut the lead to 20-15, but Whitman scored five of the final six points. Belt put away the last two kills to close the match.
Whitman hit .351 in the fourth set and finished the night with six aces to Linfield's four.
Nora Myre led Linfield with 14 kills, and Tatum Montiel added 12. Naia Alefaio-Foifua had 18 digs for the Wildcats.
