PORTLAND, Ore. — In front of an energetic Pamplin Sports Center crowd, Lewis & Clark College volleyball nearly pulled off one of its most dramatic comebacks of the season Friday night.
The Pioneers rallied from a two-set deficit to force a deciding fifth frame before visiting Linfield managed to escape with a 3-2 victory in a marathon Northwest Conference matchup.
The Wildcats took the first two sets, 25-22 and 30-28, before the Pioneers came alive to dominate the third and edge the fourth, 25-16 and 26-24. Linfield regrouped in the fifth, closing out the two-and-a-half-hour battle, 15-3.
THE BASICS
Linfield 3, Lewis & Clark 2 (25-22, 30-28, 16-25, 24-26, 15-3)
Lewis & Clark (0-14, 0-7 NWC)
Linfield (5-7, 3-4 NWC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Senior outside hitter
Abigail Warrick picked the perfect night to deliver the best performance of her career. The senior smashed nine kills and hit .250, both personal bests, providing a spark during the Pioneers' mid-match surge.
Juniors
Kaitlyn Jensen and
Isabel Meleán-Williams led the offense with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Jensen posted her fourth career double-double with 12 digs, two aces and two assists, while Meleán-Williams added two aces, two digs, a block and an assist.
Junior setters
Kenzie Edwards and
Ruby Kuerschner combined for 27 of the team's 43 assists. Edwards led with 15 assists, one shy of her career high, and added three digs and a service ace. Kuerschner tallied her 18th career double-double and set a new career high with 18 digs. She finished with 12 assists, five kills, two aces and two block assists.
Senior libero
Reilyn Sabado matched her career highs with 14 digs and three assists and surpassed 250 career digs.
First-year
Ariah Potts contributed nine digs, and junior middle blocker
HB Schuett posted career highs with six digs and five total blocks. Schuett added four kills and two aces.
Junior middle blocker
Christi San Diego set a career high with four assists and added three digs and a solo block. First-year defensive specialist
Izzy Faulkner made their collegiate debut and recorded two digs across three sets.
The opening frame set the tone for a night filled with long rallies and momentum swings. The two sides traded points early behind strong swings from Jensen and Meleán-Williams, who combined for eight of the Pioneers' 10 kills in the opening set. After Kuerschner put Lewis & Clark up 10-8 with a service ace, Linfield responded with a 6-1 run, forcing a timeout at 14-11. The Pioneers clawed back behind a block from Schuett and Kuerschner and a winner from Meleán-Williams that brought them within 20-19. Another kill from Meleán-Williams gave Lewis & Clark a 21-20 lead, but Linfield closed out to take the first set 25-22.
The second set proved to be the most dramatic of the night, with nine lead changes and 14 ties. Neither team led by more than three points, and the Pioneers held a 24-21 lead before eventually falling 30-28. Warrick found her rhythm in the frame, tallying four kills and hitting over .571. Lewis & Clark looked poised to even the match when Schuett's kill put them up 23-21, but Linfield staved off three set points. The Wildcats edged ahead 29-28, and a final kill from Nora Myre sealed the marathon frame 30-28, giving Linfield a 2-0 lead heading into intermission.
The Pioneers roared back in the third with their most complete set of the season. Lewis & Clark dominated at the net, hitting a match-best .435 with 12 kills and just two errors. With Linfield up 6-2 to start the frame, a clerical error by the Wildcat coaching staff at the beginning of the match on the lineup sheet caused an out-of-rotation call, which made the score 5-3 Linfield. The Pioneers then rallied from an 8-10 deficit to take a 15-11 lead off a kill by Edwards. Lewis & Clark extended its lead to 21-15 off a Meleán-Williams service ace to force Linfield's second timeout. Two kills from Warrick and one from Kuerschner sealed the third set 25-16 for the home team.
Linfield opened the fourth set with a 10-3 run, but Lewis & Clark fought back to take a narrow 21-19 edge after a block from Schuett and Meleán-Williams. The Pioneers again had two set points, but this time they sealed the set with an ace from Jensen. Warrick hit lights out with four kills on four attempts in the frame.
Unfortunately, the fifth set belonged to Linfield. The Wildcats raced out to an 8-1 lead behind five kills from Nora Myre, who finished with a match-high 17 kills on the night. Linfield hit .450 in the frame to close out the match 15-3.
BY THE NUMBERS
- 10 – Lewis & Clark totaled 10 service aces, with two each from Jensen, Kuerschner, Schuett and Meleán-Williams, and one apiece from Edwards and Sabado.
- .125 – The Pioneers outhit an opponent for the first time since Nov. 2, 2024, posting a .125 mark to Linfield's .124.
- 2 – Jensen and Meleán-Williams became the first Lewis & Clark players to record double-digit kills in the same match since Annika Traxler (13) and Emily Strand (13) did so against Pacific on Nov. 8, 2024.
WHO'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark concludes the first half of Northwest Conference play on Saturday with a 6 p.m. match at Willamette in Salem.
