PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College volleyball rallied for a 2-0 deficit to force a fifth-set but ultimately fell 17-15 in the fifth-set in a back-and-forth contest against Willamette University on Wednesday night at Pamplin Gymnasium. 

THE BASICS
Willamette 3, Lewis & Clark 2
(Lewis & Clark 7-14, Northwest Conference 2-11) 
(Willamette 12-8, NWC 7-6) 

HOW IT HAPPENED

Senior Izzy Willis and junior Annika Traxler each finished with a team-high 16 kills but Willamette used a 3-0 run to close out the match to earn the victory.
 
Willis posted her third-best hitting percentage of the season (.289) and best during conference play. She finished with 16 kills and just three errors and tacked on nine digs and four aces. 
 
Traxler notched 16 kills on 51 swings (.118 hitting percentage) and posted seven digs, two block assists and an ace. 
 
Junior Emily Strand (six kills) and freshman Christi San Diego (five kills, five block assists) finished third and fourth on the team in kills. 
 
Ruby Kuerschner reached the 30-assist mark for the fifth time this season. The freshman setter totaled 30 assists, eight digs and four kills on just nine attempts. 
 
Senior libero Katie Shimaura moved into third place in program history for career digs (1,040) with a team-leading 21 digs. Shimaura added seven assists and an ace. 
 
Willamette jumped out to an 8-3 lead to start the match and despite a Pioneers push that cut the deficit to two (10-8), the Bearcats captured the set 25-20. 
 
The second set was defined by big runs. After losing the opening point of the set, Lewis & Clark won nine points in a row to grab a 9-1 lead. Willis posted a pair of service aces during the service run and Traxler (two) and San Diego added kills. Willamette would respond with the next four points and eight of the next nine to cut the deficit to 10-9. They would grab the lead for good at 16-15 and used an 8-0 run to grab a 23-15 lead en route to a 25-16 set two victory. 
 
With their backs against the wall, Lewis & Clark won a back-and-forth third set. The Pioneers jumped out to another large early lead (8-2) but a 6-0 run from Willamette evened the match at 9-9. Neither team would own a lead of more than two points the rest of the set, with Willamette inching out to leads of 16-14, 17-15 and 19-17. Lewis & Clark countered with a mini 3-0 run (22-20) behind kills from Willis and San Diego and an ace from Reilyn Sabado. Willamette would respond with two points of their own to tie the set at 22-22 but Willis answered with a monster kill and an attack error gave the Pioneers set point. After a Bearcats kill kept the set alive, a service error clinched the 25-23 Lewis & Clark set win. 
 
Lewis & Clark dominated the majority of the fourth set. The Pioneers raced out to a 7-1 lead and pushed their advantage to 22-7. Willamette rallied to make it respectable but in the end a huge kill from Traxler forced a fifth set (25-18). 

The fifth set was tight the entire way and easily could have gone to either team. Willamette inched out to a 3-1 lead, only for the Pioneers to go into the change leading 8-6 on another kill from Traxler. With Lewis & Clark leading 11-9, Willamette scored four-straight points to grab a 13-11 advantage. A Willis kill gave the Pioneers the important side out and Willis came through with an important two-point service run to give the Pioneers match point (14-13). Olivia Cadien answered with a kill for the visitors to tie the score at 14-14 but Traxler gave the Pioneers their second set point with her 16^th and final kill. Willamette tied the score once again on a Cadien kill and used a Katey Cramer kill and a service ace to secure the set (17-15) and the match victory. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Shimaura (1,040 career digs) passed Leah Collins ('08) for third all-time in program history in career digs. Collins finished her career with 1,037. 
• The Pioneers finished the match hitting .176 which is their second-best mark this season in NWC play. On Saturday, Lewis & Clark hit .191 in their victory over Linfield University. 
• Willis went over 700 kills for her career (709) in the match and is now just 23 shy of tying eighth place all-time in program history. Her 265 kills and 3.49 kills per set this season are both career-best marks. 
• Traxler went over 200 kills for the season (209) which is over 125 kills more than her previous season-high. 
• Wednesday's match featured 25 ties and 13 lead changes. The third set alone included 10 ties and five lead changes and the fifth set added seven ties and five lead changes. 
• Junior Bethany Ballesteros notched seven digs and three aces. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark heads to George Fox University on Friday at 7 p.m. for their final road match of the season.