Lutes Take Unbeaten NWC Record East of the Cascades

THIS WEEKEND: The Lutes will look to improve their record and maintain their status as the only undefeated team in the Northwest Conference when they venture east across the Cascades for matches against the Whitworth Pirates at 7 p.m. Friday and the Whitman Missionaries at 4 p.m. Saturday.

ABOUT THE LUTES: The Lutes go into the weekend matches with an 8-5 overall record and a 4-0 conference record, beating each NWC opponent in three straight sets, including the University of Puget Sound (ranked second in the NWC preseason poll) and Linfield College (ranked third in the NWC preseason poll).

PLU MOVES UP TO NO. 18: Following convincing straight-set wins over Puget Sound and Linfield, the Lutes moved up one spot to No. 18 in the AVCA Division III Coaches Top 25 Poll.

NWC HONORS PLU SETTER: Sarah Beaver, Pacific Lutheran's outstanding junior setter, has earned Northwest Conference Player of the Week honors after leading the Lutes to straight-set wins over Puget Sound and Linfield. Beaver collected 40 assists against Puget Sound and 28 more against Linfield to lead the Lutes to a pair of road wins. She is the second consecutive PLU player so honored after Kelcy Joynt won the award last week.

ABOUT WHITWORTH: On Friday night, the Lutes will begin their weekend of play facing the Whitworth Pirates. The Pirates, picked to finish fourth in the preseason poll, come into the Friday night's match with an overall record of 4-11 and a conference record of 0-4. The Pirates rally behind four returning starters from last season. Much of their offense will be run through outside hitter Kaimi Rocha, who earned first team All-Northwest Conference honors as a freshman in 2008. They also face the Lutes with two starting middle blockers returning from their 2008 season, including honorable mention all-conference honoree Ka`ipo Rocha. Another threatening returner is the Pirates' right side hitter, Tracy Schwada.

ABOUT WHITMAN: The Whitman Missionaries come into this weekend with a 3-6 overall record and a 1-3 conference mark. The Missionaries return to the 2009 season with their starting libero, Kelsie Butts, and their star outside hitter, Alex Graves, who received second team all-conference honors for the 2008 season. Their starting setter, Katie Richards, who sat out a good portion of last season due to injury, is also back on the court this season and poses a threat to opposing teams. The Missionaries, who play Puget Sound on Friday night, are coming off of an exciting win against Walla Walla University in a non-conference match, rallying to win three straight sets after losing the first set. According to the preseason poll, the Missionaries were predicted to place last out of the nine teams.

LUTES CHOP UP LOGGERS: For the second time in three matches this year, Pacific Lutheran rolled to a three-set volleyball victory, 25-15, 25-12, 25-23, over the Puget Sound Loggers at the UPS Fieldhouse. Last Wednesday's match featured two nationally ranked teams as the host Loggers came into the contest ranked No. 15 and the Lutes No. 19 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III Top 25 poll. With all of that as a backdrop, Pacific Lutheran came out and dominated the Loggers through the first two sets before holding off a determined UPS squad in the third set. The Lutes started out on fire in the first and second sets and blitzed the Loggers with easy wins. Junior setter Sarah Beaver spread the wealth in the first set, recording 14 assists as six different players recorded kills, led by Hanna and Tauscher with four each. PLU had 15 kills and hit .282 in the first set while UPS managed just eight kills and a .062 attack percentage. The second set was much of the same as the Lutes raced out to a 12-2 lead with Hanna providing three kills during the run, and soon the score was 17-5 on Moore's kill. The Loggers didn't break double figures until the Lutes had already scored 22 points. PLU hit an incredible .500 in the second set with 18 kills and only three errors in 30 attempts. By the end of the second set Hanna already had 12 kills, while Tauscher had kills on seven of her eight swings. The Loggers held a 19-16 third-set lead when the Lutes won back the serve and went on to score four straight points on Brenna Archibald's serve. With the score tied at 23-23, Kelcy Joynt pounded a kill in the middle of the court, her sixth of the set, and a Puget Sound attack error ended it. Moore added four kills and hit .571 in the final set. Against one of the nation's best teams, the Lutes hit .337 for the match, including an incredible .700 by Tauscher who finished with eight kills and one error on 10 attempts. Hanna led the Lutes with 14 kills and hit .333 while Moore had nine kills and hit .368. Beaver finished with 40 assists during the match. On the defensive side, PLU recorded three solo blocks and six block assists and also notched 50 digs, 14 by Hanna and 10 more by Joynt.

PLU POUNDS LINFIELD: PLU won its fourth consecutive conference contest this year and its 17th in a row dating back to last season with a 25-17, 25-16, 25-21 victory over the host Wildcats last Friday night. Beth Hanna, the Lutes' two-time All-America outside hitter, led all players with 11 kills and 14 digs, and both Kelcy Joynt and Kelsie Moore finished the match with eight kills. Joynt hit .500 in the match and the Lutes finished with a .223 team attack percentage, including .300 and .360 marks in the first two sets. Defensively, Moore contributed 13 digs and Erin Bremond had two solo blocks and two blocks assists as the Lutes finished with eight team blocks.

COACH KEVIN AOKI SAYS: "The Lutes had a very successful week culminating with wins at UPS and Linfield. These two schools always presents problems for us so it was nice to beat them in straight sets on their home court. The week ended with a highly competitive Alumni match. It gave us a chance to see some old faces again and also see some of the current Lutes who don't normally get playing time see a lot of action."

- PLU -