MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Playing the second team in a row that was leading the Northwest Conference going into the match, the Linfield Wildcats fell to the Pacific Boxers 3-0 on Friday Night. Linfield lost to then conference-leading Whitworth, 3-2 last Saturday.
 
The Wildcats fall to 1-6 in conference play, which is tied for last with Whitman, while the Boxers are 6-1, which is tied for first with Whitworth.
 
Facing the reigning AVCA National Player of the Week, Jordan Zweifel of Pacific, Linfield was able to stay ahead in the first set leading 15-12 on a kill by Regan Dean.
 
The Boxers trailed 20-17 in the first, but turned the set around, winnng the next eight points to win the set 25-20.
 
Pacific used that strong showing at the end of the first set to take control of the match and never looked back.
 
The final two sets were dominated by the Boxers, who took the second set 25-16, the closest the Wildcats got in the set was at 8-7, but the Boxers used a 3-0 run from that point.
 
The third set was more of the same for Pacific, who led 6-1 to start. Linfield managed to pull within one at 11-10 on an attacking error by Pacific, who won 14 of the next 17 points to win its sixth conference match of the season with a 25-13 third set.
 
The Boxers landed 39.1 percent of their attacks, compared to just 13.3 percent for the Wildcats.
 
Leading the way in kills for Linfield was Raelynn Hammock with eight, while Aylea Dixon had 12 assists.
 
Hannah Waterman had two assisted blocks and Megan Stanek had one.
 
Continuing to go all-out to save points for the Wildcats, Maya Nakasone had 13 digs in the match, she's had double digit digs in every conference match this season.
 
Pacific now leads the all-time head to head 40-12, winning the last five over Linfield.
 
UP NEXT
Linfield travels to Tacoma, Washington, on Friday night to play at Puget Sound on Saturday at 6 p.m. before returning home to face Willamette on Wednesday at 7 p.m.