Westby with six blocks, Takemoto 19 digs, as Volleyball downs Pacific 3-0

Forest Grove, OR - Willamette Volleyball played their third away match in five days and came away with a three-set win at Pacific University, 30-28, 25-11, 29-27.

The Bearcats got off to a 4-1 start in the first set and would hold leads of 18-9 and 23-13 before the Boxers would take 11 of the next 12 points to tie the set at 24.  A block by Kaitlyn Westby and Olivia Cadien would give Willamette a 29-28 lead and a Dream Takemoto service ace would give the Bearcats a first set win.

The second set started off close with Willamette holding an early 5-4 lead before they started to pull away.  A series of blocks by Westby, Cadien, and Caroline Jameson extended the lead to 19-8 and a kill by Jameson ended the second set with Willamette winning 25-11.

The third set would be another close one like the first, but this time the Boxers would get off to a lead and find themselves ahead 17-13 before the Bearcats would take the next four points to tie the set at 17.  The score would be tied nine more times before the end of the match with consecutive kills by Olivia Cadien ending the third set 29-27 and giving Willamette the victory.

Cadien led Willamette with 12 kills, followed closely by Katey Cramer with 11, and Westby and Nora Wade with 6 each.  Dream Takemoto had 19 digs and Leina Chu contributed 31 assists.

Willamette returns home to Cone Fieldhouse this Friday, October 11th, to take on Linfield University in the final game of the first round of conference play.  The match is scheduled to start at 7:00 pm.