The Whitworthian

Issue date: 9/25/07

The Whitworth volleyball team stayed put at .500 in the Northwest Conference this year, storming past Willamette University Sept. 21 but falling short against Linfield University during the Pirates' two game swing through Oregon this past weekend.

Junior Sarah Rusch had 38 kills and 9 blocks in the two games, while senior Cassie Moore tallied 55 digs on the weekend. Sophomore Tracy Schwada racked up 17 kills for the Pirates, who now sit with an even 2-2 record in conference.

Whitworth took down Willamette to exact a measure of revenge from earlier in the year, as the Bearcats defeated the Pirates two weeks ago at the Whitworth Invitational. Moore said the team understood how crucial it was to start off the road trip with a win.

"We knew that that would be the easier of the two games for us," Moore said.

The Pirates bolted out to a fast start, winning 30-18 in the first game. After Moore served for the game, Rusch linked up with senior Holly Ridings for the final point.

Willamette cooled off the Pirates in the second, however, winning a tough game 30-28. Junior Kelley Lindstrom punctuated the game with one of her 22 kills against the Pirates.

The Pirates regained control of the match in the third game, winning 30-26 behind some timely hitting from Rusch and a service ace by junior Jill Solbrack.

The Pirates went on an 8-1 run in the fourth game to close out the Bearcats behind two kills and two blocks from Schwada during the run. Moore explained that Schwada was instrumental in closing out the match.

"I have never seen her play like that," Moore said. "She definitely won our fourth game for us."

The Pirates seemed to carry Friday's momentum over into Saturday, taking the first game against Linfield 33-31. Ridings finished off Whitworth's furious comeback, as the Pirates trailed the Wildcats 17-12 early on. Moore said the Pirates may have caught Linfield off guard in the first game.

"I don't think they were expecting much from us," Moore said. Rusch added there might have been a letdown after the big win in the first game.

"I think we let up a little bit after the first one," Rusch said.

Unfortunately, the Pirates let up a bit too much, allowing the Wildcats to roar back into the match. Linfield put the match out of reach in every game after the first, winning 30-21, 30-23, 30-20 to send Whitworth home with a loss.

The Wildcats jumped out to 4-0 leads in the second and third games, proving to be enough of a cushion to keep the Pirates at bay.

Linfield trailed 2-1 in the fourth after kills by Rusch and junior Nikki Bardwell. The slow start didn't matter for the Wildcats, as they reclaimed the lead from Whitworth and never looked back en route to their third win of the year. Rusch pointed out that the Pirates were not necessarily mistake prone, but solid play from the Wildcats allowed them to take down the match.

"I think the first game took a lot out of us," Rusch said. "Overall they just made some amazing plays and earned every point on us."

Katelyn Baker and Rachel Rahn led the way for Linfield, posting 29 kills and 27 digs, respectively.

Whitworth returns home this weekend to open up a two game home stand against conference leaders University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran University. Rusch believes practice this week could be extremely important to the team's success this weekend.

"We just need to have a really good week in practice and make sure that we listen [to coach]," Rusch said. Moore feels the team should set their sights on Friday's match first and foremost.

"I think that this weekend more than any other we have to take it game by game," Moore said.

Friday's clash against Puget Sound starts at 7 p.m., while Saturday's contest against PLU will be served up at 5 p.m.

Contact Derek Casanovas at derek.casanovas@whitworthian.com.

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