After losing its second match of the year to Pacific Lutheran in straight sets, the night of Friday, Oct. 5 gave the Whitman volleyball team a chance at redemption. Unfortunately for the Missionaries, it was not to be, as the 15th-ranked Lutes dropped Whitman in straight sets for the second time this year (26-24, 25-15, 25-23).
The upset seemed within reach throughout much of the first set, as Whitman tied the score at 25-25 before a miscommunication handed the Lutes the 26-25 lead. Then PLU blocked an attempted kill to win the set. In the first set, Whitman senior Jillian Davis led the way with seven kills. She would finish with a team-high 14.
The second set doomed Whitman, as the team combined for just six kills while putting up seven errors. In that set, PLU pulled away early and ended up dominating 25-15. The Missionaries came right back though in the third set, which was highlighted by the longest rallies the crowd had seen the entire match. Whitman came to within two points, down 24-22, before PLU won the next point, that set and the match.
The Missionaries struggled with kills against a very tall PLU front line, only picking up 40 as a team. Whitman also committed 20 errors, twice as many as PLU’s 10. In addition to Davis, senior Rachel Cline and junior Franny Gardner led the way in kills for Whitman, finishing the match with nine and eight respectively.
Whitman Can’t Bounce Back
With its second chance in as many games to avenge an early season loss, the Whitman volleyball team came up short on Saturday, Oct. 5, losing to the University of Puget Sound 3-1 in the Sherwood Athletic Center. The loss to number-16 UPS drops the Missionaries to 3-3 in Conference and 5-14 overall. They have now lost three straight games.
Through the first set, the upset looked well within reach, as Whitman dominated on both offense and defense. The Missionaries tallied 17 kills to just five errors in that set, which they won 25-18. After being down 5-0 early in that set, Whitman evened the score at 10-10 before taking a 17-12 lead that the team would not lose.
Both teams traded blows in the second set before UPS made a run, taking a 10-6 lead which they would soon lengthen to 18-13. Whitman stormed back though behind the firepower of Davis and first-year Shae Kanakaole, who had eight and seven kills respectively at that point in the match. Whitman cut the deficit to one, 20-19. UPS, though, did not drop another point in the set and won 25-19.
The rest of the match was dominated by UPS and highlighted by each head coach receiving a yellow card. UPS won the third set 25-20 and the fourth set 25-19. Davis finished with 17 kills, a high for both teams. Kanakaole finished with 11 kills and a game-high 24 digs, and sophomore Hannah Linsenmayer added 21 digs. Whitman will try to rebound against Whitworth this Wednesday, Oct. 9.
