PORTLAND, Ore. -- In every practice leading to Lewis & Clark's home match with Willamette on Wednesday night, the Pioneers were focused on not letting errors distract them from winning the match. It translated into the game, as Lewis & Clark fought back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Bearcats 25-17, 18-25, 13-25, 25-23, 16-14 at Pamplin Sports Center.

The win ended a three-game losing streak for the Pioneers and gave Willamette its fourth Northwest Conference loss of the season.

"Our biggest thing right now is short-term memory," said sophomore Ellery Creighton, who played in all five sets for the first time this season. "If we make a mistake, just think 'that was the past, work forward, shake it off,' and we made it through."

Lewis & Clark lost the third set 25-13, falling behind by 13 points after hitting a match-worst .026, but rallied back in the fourth behind 15 kills and a .233 hitting percentage. The Pios once led 15-7 before Willamette creeped back to tie the score 23-23. Two consecutive kills by Julia Somers, who finished with a match-best 23 kills and a .352 hitting percentage, won the set for Lewis & Clark.

In the fifth set, Willamette charged ahead 4-0 before the Pios answered back with four straight. The set was tied seven times, including at 12, 13 and 14 apiece, the last of which was on a kill from Kortney Meyer. Like in the fourth set, Somers landed the last two kills to end the match.

"The fifth game was the best showing of that short-term memory," said Lewis & Clark head coach Stacie Matz-Gordon. "We got down 4-0, right from the gate, and the girls never faltered. They forgot about the mistakes and they were focused on making that adjustment, and that is really one big step we've been trying to make as a team."

"This whole past week, we just worked on being a team and playing for each other, and owning who we are as a volleyball team," said Creighton. "It was all about us tonight and nothing about what the other team was going to bring, just how we controlled the ball and how we played our game of volleyball."

Lewis & Clark hit its highest hitting percentage in a match, .175, since a straight sets victory at Linfield on Sept. 26, when the Pios hit .256.

The first set was the Pioneers' best hitting game of the match, as Lewis & Clark outhit Willamette .324-.167. Lewis & Clark opened with three straight kills by Ali Carleton (pictured right), Somers and Creighton, and didn't commit an error until it had established a 10-6 lead. Willamette got to within 14-12, but the Pios scored 11 of the next 16 points including four points on two kills apiece from Somers and Creighton.

In the second set, Lewis & Clark had an 8-5 lead before Willamette scored five straight points to lead 10-8. Sarah Fincher had four of the Bearcats' last five points on kills.

Meyer finished with nine kills and six total blocks, with Carleton putting down eight kills and a team-best three aces, along with Emily Drake's three. Riley Stephens and Casey Myszkowski added seven kills each, and Creighton had five.

Alexe Navarro led all players with 33 digs, while Carleton finished with 17 and Somers with 15.

Sarah Fincher, who entered the match tops in the NWC in kills per set, had 16 total for the match. Kaylen Higa led the Bearcats with 22 digs and Lindsey Compton had a match-high four aces.

Mikayla Lopez had 28 assists for the Pioneers while Willamette's Tynan Gable passed along 38.

Lewis & Clark closes out its road games for the season on Saturday against Puget Sound at 6 p.m. before playing the final two matches at home on Nov. 6 and 7.

Northwest Conference Games - Friday

Pacific at Whitworth - 7 p.m.
George Fox at Puget Sound - 7 p.m.
Willamette at Pacific Lutheran - 7 p.m.

Saturday

Pacific at Whitman - 5 p.m.
Linfield at Whitworth - 6 p.m.
Lewis & Clark at Puget Sound - 6 p.m.
George Fox at Pacific Lutheran - 7 p.m.