The Linfield Wildcats lost the battle against the Whitworth Pirates, losing in straight sets 25-22, 25-16 and 25-18.

Casie Gaza, ’17, on tonight’s game, “We played hard but we need to pass and serve better. We have great moments, but we need to string good plays together if we want to do better.”

The first set held a hitting percentage of .114, made of nine kills, five errors and 35 total attempts.

The Wildcats attack was led by Eryka Keoho, ’19, with seven kills and 23 errors. Darian Stedman, ’19, followed with four kills and 24 total attempts.

Keoho and Stedman had a hitting percentage of .087 and .083. Jamie Talbo, ’18, managed the assist game coming in with 12 assists, Casie Gaza, ’17, followed with 11 assists.

“Our weak point was serving and receiving. We had a few scrappy plays and hustle from our back row though,” Molly McTaggart, ’17, said.

The second and third set had a hitting percentage of .071 and .105. Second set had six kills, four errors and 28 total attempts. Ending the night, the third set held 10 kills, six errors and 38 total attempts.

Kayla Magbaleta, ’19, drove the defense with 11 digs, closely followed by Talbo and Stedman, with seven digs a piece. The ’Cats’ dig count for the night was 36.

The total team blocks for the night were two, brought by Taylor Petersen, ’19 and Keaho. Mackenzie Courtney, ’20, came in with an individual block.

Gaza, on what was working tonight, “Our team chemistry. I think a lot of people played a lot of positions that they never practiced tonight, and I think they did a good job coming in and making good quality plays for us.”

The match held in the first set had five tied scores and two lead changes. The second set had zero tied scores and lead changes, and the third set had one tied score and zero lead changes.

The Wildcats ended the night with 25 kills, 101 total attempts, and 25 assists with a hitting percentage of .099.

“Tomorrow we play Whitman and we’re hoping to make that correction and get back to work and play the game we know we can play. I think you can see there’s potential and effort in this team. It just takes the first win. That’s the hardest,” Gaza said.