The Pioneer volleyball team fell 25-14, 25-11, 24-26, 25-22 to the #20 Pacific Lutheran Lutes Saturday night at the Pamplin Sports Center. Andrea Chase had five kills for the Pioneers.

The Pacific Lutheran Lutes, behind the hard-hitting of Beth Hanna, cruised to 25-14, 25-11 victories over the Pioneers in the first two sets of the match.

Coming back out of the break, however, it was a completely different competition. After eight early ties in the set, the Pioneers broke a 16-16 deadlock on an ace by Margaret Dowling (freshman, Burlingame, Calif.) to go up 17-16. Two more Dowling aces along witha kill by Katherine Fielder (sophomore, San Diego, Calif.) and Andrea Chase (senior, Santa Rosa, Calif.) helped put the Pioneers up 21-16. A kill by the Lutes Kelsie Moore gave the Lutes a sideout and began a PLU rally. Moore gave the Lutes another pair of kills to help pull the visitors within one, 21-20. After an exchang of errors, the Lutes got a sideout on another kill by Moore, making it 23-22. A service ace by Moore tied the set 23-23. A ball handling error by the Pioneers put the Lutes up 24-23. A kill by the Pioneers' Jessamy Holland (junior, Honolulu, Hawaii) tied the set at 24-24. The Pioneers held on for a 26-24 victory on a pair of PLU attack errors.

In the fourth set, the two teams traded leads back and forth, witht he set tied at 18-18. Pacific Lutheran's Beth Hanna gave the Lutes a sideout and a one-point lead, 19-18. Kelsie Moore again came up big for the Lutes, giving them two kills and a block-assist in the midst of a 5-0 run to puts the visitors up 23-18. The Pioneers got the serve back after a service error. A kill by Margaret Dowling put the Pioneers within three, 23-20. A kill by PLU's Katie Tauscher set up match point for the Lutes, 24-20. After a bad PLU set, the Pioneers staved off a second match point with a block by Katherine Fiedler, with the set at 24-22. Kelsie Moore closed out the match with a kill to give the Lutes a 25-22 victory and the 3-1 match win.

For the Pioneers, Andrea Chase was their most-efficient hitter, getting ive kills on seven attacks with no errors. Katherine Fielder had eight kills with six blocks (five solo, one assisted). Lou Ohki (sophomore, Winton, Calif.) had 20 digs on the defensive side for the Pioneers.

For the Lutes, Beth hanna and Kelsei Moore each had double -digit kills and digs with Hanna getting 11 ills and 16 digs. Moore had 11 kills and 10 digs. Brenna Archibald had five service aces and 18 digs as the libero.

With the victory, the Lutes improve to 8-5 (2-2 NWC). The Pioneers fall to 7-8 (2-2 NWC).

The Pioneers are back in action Tuesday evening, travelling to Salem to take on the Willamette Bearcats September 30 at 7pm. The game will be carried live on the internet through sportsjuice.com.