WALLA WALLA, Wash. — The Whitman College women's volleyball team held off Willamette 3-1 on Saturday afternoon at Sherwood Center, winning a tightly contested Northwest Conference match 27-25, 25-23, 23-25, 26-24.
The victory lifted the Blues to 7-5 overall and 5-1 in Northwest Conference play, marking the program's strongest start to a conference season in more than two decades. Willamette fell to 5-8 overall and 2-4 in the NWC.
Whitman survived a back-and-forth opening set that featured four ties and three lead changes. Willamette rallied from a 24-22 deficit to take a 25-24 lead, but the Blues answered with the final three points. A Lexie Scott attack error gave Whitman set point, and a block by Bella Vickers and Milla Hansen sealed the 27-25 win.
The Blues again prevailed late in the second set. With the score tied 22-22, Whitman forced consecutive Willamette attacking errors before Sammy Holmer finished the set with a kill from Melia Ferraro for a 25-23 victory.
Willamette extended the match by taking the third set, 25-23, after erasing a 17-14 Whitman lead. The Bearcats used back-to-back service aces from Lea Prunk to move ahead 19-18 and closed the set on a Whitman attacking error.
Neither team led by more than three points in the decisive fourth set. Willamette used a 4-0 run late to turn a 21-19 deficit into a 23-21 advantage, but Whitman responded with five of the final six points.
Arina Gushchina tied the score at 23-23, Addie Belt put the Blues ahead with a kill, and Whitman claimed the match when Willamette was called for a bad set on match point.
Holmer led Whitman with 13 kills and 16 digs, while Belt added 12 kills. Rowyn Lee recorded 11 points on six kills, four block assists and two solo blocks. Gushchina contributed nine kills, two aces and eight digs, and Haylee Pruse directed the offense with 23 assists.
Whitman finished with an 11-9 edge in team blocks and held Willamette to a .130 hitting percentage. The Blues also recorded 13 reception errors forced, compared with five by the Bearcats.
Scott paced Willamette with a match-high 19 kills. Tessa Reed added nine kills, and Leina Chu posted 26 assists and three service aces. Willamette's strongest stretch came in the third set, when it hit .189 and sided out on 15 of 24 opportunities.
The Blues now kick off a five-match conference road stretch beginning at Puget Sound on Friday, Oct. 9 at 7:00 p.m.
#GoWhitman
