SPOKANE, Wash. -- Following a tough night at one-win Whitman on Friday night, the Lewis & Clark Pioneers pieced together a better match on Saturday night against Whitworth. Even though the Pioneers held the home team Pirates to .097 hitting - well below their .175 season average - Lewis & Clark lost the match, as Whitworth defeated the Pios 26-24, 25-17, 22-25, 25-23 at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

In all but the second set, Lewis & Clark was in the lead or tied with Whitworth when the score for each team was in the 20s. It was a stark contrast to the night before when Whitman hit .050 higher than its season average and the Pios only scored into the 20s once, in the third set.

"We saw a big improvement on last night," said Lewis & Clark head coach Stacie Matz-Gordon after Saturday's match. "Whitworth is tough and they won the points they needed to win the match."

Maeleen Hopeau (pictured right) hit a match-high .312 with seven kills on 16 attempts. The junior committed only two errors and added a block and a dig. Riley Stephens had six kills and finished at .136 hitting. Lewis & Clark's all-time career digs leader Alexe Navarro led the Pios with 27 digs, while Mikayla Lopez added 19 assists.

Maddye Dinsmore had a stellar game for Whitworth with 45 assists, 10 digs and a .375 hitting percentage with three kills. Nicole Leonard had a team-best 18 digs and a co-match-high 14 kills.

The Pioneers came out of the gate hot, outhitting Whitworth .116-.088 in the opening set. With the first set tied 23-23 and Lewis & Clark freshman Julia Somers holding serve, Whitworth's Cassandra Mendoza committed a hitting error before earning a point back on a kill in the next rally, retying the match at 24-24.

Mendoza was next to serve, winning a point for the Pirates on a handling error by Lewis & Clark's Emily Drake before Leonard's kill won the set for Whitworth.

In the second set, Whitworth was superior by hitting .171 to the Pios' .054. The Pioneers got many of their points via Pirates' errors, although Hopeau had four of her seven kills in the set. Somers, who finished with 14 kills, had four as well in the set. Karina Lees and Leonard scored six of the Pirates' final 10 points on kills.

The third set started all-Pios, as Lewis & Clark built a 10-3 lead through kills by Stephens, Hopeau and numerous Whitworth errors. The lead dissipated to 20-18 before kills by Kortney Meyer and Somers helped make it 23-20. Dinsmore had a bad set and Leonard missed on an attack to close out the set in favor of Lewis & Clark.

Whitworth (12-6; 6-2 NWC) reversed course in the fourth set, charging out to a 10-2 lead before the Pioneers scored nine of the next 10 points to even the count at 11-11. The teams exchanged points to 15-15 before Whitworth used two Lewis & Clark errors, an ace from Taylor Wicht and a kill by Leonard to move ahead 19-16. Lewis & Clark evened the match twice more, including at 23-23, before Corrine Bell landed a kill and Schoesier put down an ace to win the match.

"It was a tough weekend," said Matz-Gordon, "but this team is committed to taking steps forward for the second half of conference."

Lewis & Clark went 4-4 through the first swing of the Northwest Conference schedule including a 3-1 win over current third place team Pacific Lutheran. The Pios currently sit fourth in the NWC.

The remainder of the Pios' road stretch includes Friday's match at George Fox before a trip to Forest Grove to face Pacific on Oct. 17. Lewis & Clark (7-8; 4-4) defeated both the Bruins and the Boxers, which are a combined 5-11 in conference.

Other Northwest Conference Scores - Saturday

Willamette 3, Whitman 1
Linfield 3, George Fox 2
Pacific 3, Puget Sound 0