SPOKANE, Wash. – Maddie Lee had 11 kills and three aces to lead Whitworth to a sweep of visiting Willamette in a Northwest Conference women's volleyball match on Saturday night.

The Pirates (9-3 overall, 3-1 NWC) won 25-19, 25-19, 25-17 to hand the Bearcats (4-6, 3-1) their first NWC loss of the season.

Whitworth set the tone early, hitting .406 in the opening set on the way to a .286 night.  That followed up Wednesday's .370 night in a win over Whitman.

"I really liked how we played together as a team this week," said Pirate head coach Kati Bodecker.  "We revisited finding that trust with each other on the court during practice and it was fun to watch it play out in the two matches."

Whitworth pulled away from a 6-6 tie in the opening set with a quick 4-0 run that included an ace from Eva Millan.  The Bucs stretched the lead to 17-10 on a kill by Abigail Hudson and won the set on a kill by Lee.  Whitworth had 16 kills and only three errors in 32 attempts in the frame.

After Willamette took a 5-2 lead in the second set after consecutive errors by the Pirates, Whitworth used a 7-1 run to go ahead 9-6 after a block from Cassidy Franklin and Logan Spencer.  The Bearcats were still within 16-15 before the Pirates closed on a 9-3 run, including back to back aces by Lee.

Whitworth never trailed in the final set, jumping ahead 5-1 after a kill and an ace from Jaye Hodge.  The Pirates extended the lead to 21-12 on a solo block by Franklin and won the set on a kill from Amblessed Okemgbo.

In addition to Lee's 14 points, Hodge had eight kills for the Bucs.  Franklin finished with five kills and four blocks (two solo, two assists).  Joelle Forbes dished 20 assists while Megan Lange had 10.  Millan ended with 15 digs and three of Whitworth's nine aces.

Olivia Cadien had 12 kills for Willamette while Dani Queja had nine.  Emma Porter had 25 assists.

Whitworth returns to action next weekend at Lewis & Clark and George Fox.