NEWBERG, Ore. – In the highest-scoring fifth set in George Fox University women's volleyball history, the Bruins saw a match they once led two-sets-to-none get away from them in a 3-2 loss to the visiting Whitworth University Pirates in a heart-stopping Northwest Conference contest Saturday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

For Whitworth, which came from behind to win 20-25, 21-25, 25-17, 26-24, 22-20, such marathons are becoming “old hat”; the Pirates lost their last match to Lewis & Clark College in the fifth set by that same 22-20 score.  For George Fox, the 42 combined points topped the previous record of 40 in a 21-19 fifth-set loss to Simpson University of California on Sept. 1, 2011, in the season opener at home.

In the opening set, the Bruins trailed only after the first point.  Erin Sprowls tied it with a kill, the first of six she would collect in the set, and after a 2-2 tie, she hit two more winners to give the Bruins a lead they would not relinquish.  Four times George Fox held four-point leads, but the Pirates stayed close, due in large part to Kristine Kardell's four kills in the set.  Up 23-20, the Bruins put the game away with a winner by Karlee Jo Sampson and a service ace by Kelsea Meyers.

An early 9-2 outburst, fueled by two Sprowls kills and a kill and an ace by Sampson, gave the Bruins a 10-4 lead in the second set, and they remained comfortably ahead the rest of the way.  George Fox held Whitworth to a .000 hitting percentage and built as much as a nine-point lead at 22-13 following one of 11 Pirate attack errors in the stanza.  A late 4-0 run brought the Pirates within three at 24-21 before the Bruins' Erin Campbell ended the suspense with a spike.

The Pirates began their comeback by dominating the third set, holding the Bruins to a .000 hitting mark with only five kills.  A 6-0 run that featured kills by Tori LaBrie and Jalana White and two aces by Anna Buck gave the visitors an 11-5 lead, and the Bruins got no closer than five the remainder of the set.  The Pirates upped the lead to eight at 16-8 on a Maddye Dinsmore ace, and the teams swapped points thereafter for the most part until Nicole Leonard closed it out with a kill.

Set four saw the Pirates jump out to an 8-4 lead before the Bruins went on a 10-1 run to take a 14-9 advantage.  Payton Shrum served two aces in the George Fox rally and the defense made three blocks for winners, Kylee Adderson contributing one solo block and two blocks assists.  The Pirates battled back to tie it 18-18 on a kill by White, and the set was nip-and-tuck the rest of the way, with deadlocks at 19-19, 22-22, 23-23, and 24-24.  Whitworth finally secured the set and evened the match on a kill by Kardell and a block by Kardell and LaBrie.

In the decisive set, a kill by Tiffany Burk and back-to-back aces by Meyers gave the Bruins a 7-4 advantage.  The Bruins were still up 10-8 after a bad set by Dinsmore, but the Pirates knotted it 10-10 on a Bruin serve error and a block by Kardell and Dinsmore, and no one had more than a one-point lead from there until the end.  Six times the Bruins took one-point leads, half of them for match points, while the Pirates held the edge four times, all four with opportunities to close out the match.  Whitworth finally ended the drama when the score reached 20-20 with Kardell hitting consecutive winners.

Whitworth out-hit George Fox .268 to .171 in the fourth set and .265 to .029 in the fifth set, finishing the match with a .168 percentage to .098 for the Bruins and with 68 kills to 45 for the home team.  They also had 103 digs to 83 for George Fox, though the Bruins did have an 11-7 advantage in blocks.

Sprowls and Sampson led the Bruins with 12 kills each and Burk added 10, while Shrum directed the offense with 43 assists.  Chelsea Wilson led the defense with 30 digs, Campbell had 15, Meyers 14, and Sampson 13.  Shrum served five aces and Meyers three.  Sprowls made five block assists, Adderson three with one solo, and Burk had two of each.

White paced the Pirates with 19 kills, Kardell added 18, and Leonard chipped in with 15.  Dinsmore, the league leader in assists, passed out 59.  Whitney Santos made 21 digs, followed by Leonard with 19, Dinsmore, Izze Ginley and Anna Buck with 15 apiece, and White with 12.  Kardell had two solo blocks and four block assists, and Dinsmore added three block assists.

NEXT: George Fox (5-6, NWC 0-3) hosts Whitman College Saturday in a match scheduled for 5:00 p.m. in order to give the Missionaries a head start on their long trip back to Walla Walla, Wash., after the match … Whitworth (8-7, NWC 2-1) will be at Pacific University Saturday, starting at 5:00 p.m. for the same reason - an early start back to Spokane, Wash.