SPOKANE, Wash. – Top-seeded Whitworth advanced to the final of the 2024 Northwest Conference volleyball tournament with a 25-12, 25-18, 25-18 win over fourth-seeded George Fox in Friday night's semifinal match at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.
The 21st-ranked Pirates (25-2) advance to play Pacific Lutheran (19-7) in Saturday's championship match at 6:00 pm.
Whitworth, the conference's leading blocking team, had 11 blocks against the Bruins (14-12) and added ten service aces to account for 21 of 57 total points. GFU struggled all night against Whitworth's defense and finished the match with a -.009 hitting percentage.
"I loved how we played with urgency and had intense focus after we had talked this week about working hard on every play," said Whitworth head coach Kati Bodecker. "Sometimes success can lead to complacency, but tonight we came out motivated to be better."
The Pirates never trailed in the first set and pulled away from a 12-8 lead by outscoring the Bruins 13-4 the rest of the way. GFU had nine errors and five kills in 32 attempts for a -.125 hitting percentage in the opening stanza.
Whitworth built an almost insurmountable 21-9 lead in the second set before GFU used a 9-2 run to close the gap. Similarly, the Bucs went ahead 21-10 in the final game before pulled closer at the end. Each time the deficit was far too big for the Bruins to overcome.
Ella Jimenez led Whitworth with 11.5 points on five kills, four aces and three blocks (2 solo, 1 assist). Abigail Hudson contributed six kills and four blocks (1 solo, 3 assists). Amblessed Okemgbo had seven kills and hit .273. Megan Lange dished 18 of Whitworth's 32 assists as the Bucs hit .202 as a team.
Alexis Baer led the Bruins with six kills, while Gracie Bearden had five kills and a match-high 17 digs.
Pacific Lutheran, the #2 seed, reached the final by defeating 3rd-seeded Puget in four sets. The Lutes rallied after dropping the opening set and won the next three to make the NWC championship match for the second year in a row.
