McMINNVILLE, Ore. – An emotion-packed night at Ted Wilson Gymnasium ended in exhilaration Saturday as underdog Linfield blazed past Whitworth in four sets on
Shane Kimura's final night as Wildcats coach. The scores were 25-23, 21-25, 25-13, 27-25.
The rousing victory, which saw the Wildcats successfully rally from deficits of 14-4 and 19-10 to win the deciding fourth set, was a fitting sendoff for the longtime Linfield coach who capped his 40-year career with his 666th win.
Taylor Petersen and
Darian Stedman knocked down 11 kills each,
Eryka Keoho pounded nine kills and
Audrey Hyem contributed seven as the Wildcats outhit the Pirates .201 to .138.
Stedman paced the Wildcats defensively with 25 digs while adding three service aces.
Kayla Magbaleta had 19 digs and a pair of kills.
Destyni Grace totaled 24 assists and six digs while
Mattie Kelly had 21 assists and nine digs. Petersen was a force at the net, getting a hand on eight blocks.
Whitworth (15-10, 12-4 NWC), which finished the season as the conference runner-up behind Pacific Lutheran, couldn't seem to match the increasing energy the Wildcats were drawing from the noisy crowd of 350, which included former players and assistant coaches spanning five decades.
Linfield (11-12, 5-11 NWC) ended its season with two straight wins over teams which finished in the upper half of the conference, perhaps both directly attributable to the sentiment created by Kimura's pending retirement.
It was called "Shane Night" and included a multi-media presentation afterward displaying a collection of video remarks by more than a dozen former players as well as the current roster of Wildcats.
Kimura ends his career in the top 20 for coaching victories among NCAA Division III coaches.
