Victory! and how to dig with your feet

After a tough loss to University of Puget Sound on Friday this team re-grouped and in a very significant performance beat Pacific Lutheran in four last night!  It's the first time since 2006 the program has gotten a win vs a PLU team.

 It was significant because we showed our strength in the variety of ways we can generate offense and the multitude of players who contribute to successful efforts on the court.

Last night the team found a way to mentally recover after struggling in the first set--and somewhere in the middle of the second set started to find a spark, and began to play with confidence and fire.  Our passing game, which was rocky to begin with, started to settle, and the great blocking this team is capable of started to play a role in a a huge comeback to get the win in the second set.
Carrie has continued to improve her game this year and she found another level of contribution last night, playing with poise and hitting smart en route to a 14 kill, .303 hitting night.  She also added to her team's efforts with some tough serving and in slowing down PLU's strong weak-side attack with her blocking.

Becca keeps getting better and more comfortable in the libero jersey---collecting some tough digs last night on big swings by PLU.

The tandem of Corie and Olivia in the middle keep gathering power and last night showed up big en route to a combined performance of 13 kills, 7 service aces, a few digs thrown in, and to finish it all off--7 blocks between the two of them.
Rachel C turned in a solid game last night; spreading the offense around and making good decisions as a young setter---34 assists for the night.  She also showed her abilities to get some big things done as a blocker collecting a solo block and 2 assists on the night.

The crazy play of the night however was an off-the-foot dig by Jillian (just a tad late on a defensive move!) which somehow came straight up, and after a rally of plays at the net, resulted in a Whitman point! That was a first as a coach---I've never actually seen that happen in a match....
This team is remarkable in how they take lessons from the previous outing and have the mental focus and determination to apply those lessons immediately---it's fun to watch.  Great win against a very good opponent.  Makes all the Sunday library studying that much easier!