Matt Jonathan
Arts/Ops/Ent editor
Despite showing strong fighting spirit, the volleyball team lost both of its matches Oct. 19 and 20.
The Wildcats took on No. 19 Pacific Lutheran University on Oct. 19 and fell short. The women faced off against the University of Puget Sound on Oct. 20, losing in three straight sets.
The ‘Cats will try to rebound tonight when they travel to Lewis & Clark College before heading to Willamette University on Oct. 25.
“We’ve been working really hard in practice,” senior outside hitter Kelsey French said. “We’ve played really well against [Lewis & Clark and Willamette] in the past, so we’re going to make sure we go out and
attack them.”
Against PLU, Linfield fell 23-25, 25-20, 23-25 and 17-25.
In the opening set, the Wildcats came out strong against the Lutes, at one point holding a three-point lead before PLU closed the gap to 10-10.
The Wildcats rattled off a three-point run through two kills from freshman outside hitter Tara Hill and a Lutes attacking error. Pacific Lutheran fought back to tie the game at 15 before taking the lead, 20-17. The Lutes held the lead until the end of the game, winning 25-23.
Linfield was looking for revenge in game two, taking an early 6-2 lead. PLU tied it back up at 7-7, but killed its drive by putting its next serve into the net.
The Lutes still built a 12-9 lead. However, the ‘Cats rebounded to retake the lead, 15-13, after a dominating block from Hill and junior middle blocker Emily Vuylsteke.
With momentum in their favor, the ‘Cats exploded and won game two, 25-20.
Pacific Lutheran demonstrated its national might in the third set. For the second game in a row, the competitors were locked up at 7-7 before Linfield broke away to 17-13. Despite the Wildcats being an offensive power and leading 21-17, the Lutes came back to win 25-23.
The Lutes continued where they left off in game four, taking an early lead. While the Wildcats were able to close the lead to within two points, the Lutes did not give up and coasted through to the end, winning 25-17.
On Oct. 20, the women took on the dominant Puget Sound team, which is looking to contend for the Northwest Conference title. The ‘Cats could not match Puget Sound’s power and lost in three straight games, 25-17, 25-16 and 25-23.
Both competitors showed amazing defensive skill throughout the night, which resulted in exceptionally long rallies to win points. Although Linfield continued to get dig after dig, the Loggers were able to amass a seven-point lead at 16-9. UPS pushed offensively to win the first set.
Linfield’s attack was shut down by the Loggers, who put up major blocks. Puget Sound was able to get its hands on almost all of the ‘Cats’ attacks, negating Vuylsteke’s and Hill’s power.
A back-and-forth start in game one ended when UPS accelerated to an 18-9 lead because of kills and Wildcat errors.
Linfield lost 25-16, allowing the Loggers a two-game cushion and a third-set victory to end the match.
Despite some spirited play, game three was the end of the line for the ‘Cats. Linfield showed resilience, taking a quick 3-0 lead before Puget Sound leapfrogged to 8-5. The Wildcats fought back to tie near the end at 20-20 and went on to come within three points of prolonging the contest.
The Loggers did not allow it and tied the game at 23-23, winning the last two points after freshman Rosa Gimson put her attack in the net, and UPS put up an unavoidable block for the final point.
“We really wanted those two games,” said French. “They were hard losses
to take.”
