PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Pioneers hit -.360 for the first set and fell behind 6-1 to visiting Pacific Lutheran, setting up what could have been a difficult, evening-long tone to their Northwest Conference match against the three-time defending champs. 

Instead, Lewis & Clark controlled points throughout the remainder of the night, defeating the Lutes 13-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-23 on Friday at Pamplin Sports Center.

It was the first win for the Pios over PLU since Oct. 15, 2011, when Lewis & Clark won in five sets after trailing 2-1 through the first three.

In Friday's extremely competitive match, after the 16th point was scored in each of the last three sets, only once did either team lead by more than two points.

"I can't remember the last time we beat PLU," said junior Alexe Navarro. "Coming from my freshman year to now, this team is amazing and I love them. Our bonds are a lot closer and we trust each other more than anything else in the world."

"We do have a young team," said head coach Stacie Matz-Gordon. "Sometimes that kind of bites you, but sometimes that growth is so exponential and so visual, and tonight was that kind of night." 

Freshman Julia Somers had 11 of her team-best 13 kills after the opening set. Likewise for senior Ali Carleton, who had nine kills in the three sets the Pios won.

Maeleen Hopeau finished with eight kills and Casey Myszkowski put down six. Myszkowski posted a season-high hitting percentage, .286, when attempting double-digit attacks.

Four Pios finished with double-digit digs, led by junior Navarro's 22 and Carleton's 15. Somers added 12 and Mikayla Lopez posted 10 to go with a team-high 20 assists.

Carleton also led the Pios with three aces.

Kendle Valade-Nunez shined for Pacific Lutheran with 35 assists, eight kills and three digs. Lucy Capron and Chloe Epker were the Lutes' leaders with 15 and 14 kills, respectively. Capron also had a team-high 19 digs.

PLU was dominate in the first set, building as much as a 10-point lead, 13-3, to run away to a 1-0 advantage in the match. The Lutes scored more than half of their points in the set off Lewis & Clark errors.

In the second set, neither team could establish position over the other, as the Lutes 15-12 lead was the widest margin of the set. Trailing by that score, Carleton held serve for four straight points to put the Pios on top by one. Lewis & Clark received a balanced effort from its front row to match point-for-point with the Lutes, closing the set out on a kill by Carleton.

With the match tied 1-1, the Pios started with a lead in the third set, eventually owning a 19-16 edge. Carleton once again shined, holding a lengthy serve in the middle of the match before serving what ended up as a Somers' kill to move Lewis & Clark up 22-20. Two service errors and a Lopez kill sealed the set for the Pios.

Momentum continued in Lewis & Clark's favor in the fourth set, jumping to a 7-2 edge. From there, PLU rallied to within one 15-14 after consecutive kills by Julia Hutchison, Capron, Epker and Kendle Valade-Nunez. Myszkowski followed kills from Meyer and Somers to put the Pios up 18-16 before scoring the game's final point. In between, Emma Contreras and Hopeau twice had kills for the offensive-minded Pioneers.

The Pios hit a match-high .213 in the final set.

"It's a good lesson to put in the notebook," said Matz-Gordon. "To say, 'if you can stay calm and confident in those tight matches where you can feel the tension in the gym,' they can win any match."

"We're just going to carry the momentum we had today and the excitement we had into tomorrow," said Navarro.

Lewis & Clark plays its first road match tomorrow at Linfield, which lost to Puget Sound tonight 3-2.

Other Northwest Conference Scores - Friday

Puget Sound 3, Linfield 2
George Fox 3, Whitman 0
Willamette 3, Pacific 0