MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Coming off the first win in Northwest conference play, the Linfield Wildcats went up against the Whitworth Pirates on Saturday night, who were undefeated in conference play. The Wildcats pushed the Pirates to five set, but fell 15-12 in the deciding set in front of a raucous crowd at Ted Wilson Gym. Raelynn Hammock had a double-double for the second straight night for the Wildcats.
 
Whitworth is now 6-0 in conference play at the top of the standings, Linfield is 1-5 and tied for seventh place with the George Fox.
 
The Pirates had the edge early on in the set, leading 11-5, but the Wildcats stormed back to 11-7 on a kill by Raelynn Hammock but that was the closest they got the chasing the Pirates.
 
Whitworth closed out the first set on a 6-3 run and won the first set, 25-17 on an attacking error by the Wildcats.
 
Linfield, who was wearing special pink jerseys for breast cancer awareness on Saturday night, had a much better second set than the first.
 
Aylea Dixon is one of the best servers in the conference, sitting at second in the NWC at 0.56 aces per set. Back-to-back aces from the Yamhill, Oregon, native gave the Wildcats a 12-7 lead in the second and the Pirates called a timeout.
 
Whitworth got close to the Wildcats at 14-12 on two straight errors by Linfield, but a kill by Hannah Waterman started a 5-0 run for Linfield, which it used to win the second set 25-16.
 
Coming into Saturday night, the Pirates had dropped just three sets through five matches in conference play and they dropped two on Saturday night, first one in the second set.
 
In the third set, the Wildcats had the lead at 15-13 on two attacking errors by the Pirates, who were still down 19-17 on an ace by Maya Nakasone.
 
The turning point of the set happened after the ace from Nakasone, with Whitworth winning eight of the next nine points and winning the third set, 25-20.
 
Trying to stay alive in the match, Linfield was able to match Whitworth in the fourth set, tied at 13.
 
Leading 19-17, a service error and an attacking error by the Pirates allowed the Wildcats get back into the match, who had their first chance to close out the set on a kill by Lori Cimmiyotti.
 
Whitworth fought off the first set point, but the Wildcats had another opportunity thanks to a kill by Regan Dean and they force a dediding fifth set on another kill by Cimmiyotti, who had eight in the match.
 
This was the first time that Linfield was playing a fifth set in conference play, while Whitworth had defeated Pacific Lutheran in the deciding set in the conference opener for both teams.
 
Whitworth was able to get the 5-2 edge in the final set thanks to two kills and an ace and that early advantage was able to keep Linfield at bay.
 
Linfield won two straight points on match point at 15-10, but Whitworth remained undefeated in conference play with a 15-12 win in the deciding set.
 
The Wildcats landed 14.6 percent of their attacks compared to 19.3 percent for the Pirates.
 
Having a rotation of two setters to start the season, Dixon has settled in as the primary setter for Linfield and she had 36 on the day, which is the second highest this season for the freshman, her season high of 40 came in Friday night's win over Whitman.
 
Raelynn Hammock had a double-double for the second straight night, she had 17 kills and 16 digs on Saturday night.
 
Regan Dean and Maya Nakasone had 17 and 11 digs respectively. Nakasone continues to make a push atop the conference standings for digs, she is now eighth at 206, Dean is right behind her with 187 as the ninth highest in the conference.
 
The Wildcats middle blockers Waterman, Cimmiyotti, and Kara Thomas had a block party in front of the net. Cimmiyotti had six blocks, Waterman and Thomas had three.
 
Whitworth leads the all-time head to head 29-23, winning seven of the last eight meetings over Linfield.
 
UP NEXT
The Linfield Wildcats welcome the Pacific Boxers next Friday at 7 p.m., before heading to Tacoma, Washington, to take on Puget Sound next Saturday at 6 p.m.