TACOMA, Wash. - In 33 years coaching women's volleyball, including 29 as a head coach, Mark Massey has seen a lot of volleyball matches. He has also won a lot of volleyball matches and on Friday night, Massey eclipsed 500 career wins as the Puget Sound Loggers defeated the Willamette Bearcats, 25-17, 21-25, 25-20, 25-14, in a Northwest Conference match at Stadium High School in Tacoma, Wash.

The 15th-ranked Loggers methodically worked their way to a lead, holding a 15-6 advantage midway through the set before eventually taking a 1-0 match lead with a 25-17 set win. UPS hit .297 in the opening period on 16 kills and five attack errors while the Bearcats were held to a .033 hitting percentage.

In the second set, the Bearcats played a fantastic frame, throwing down 16 kills and committing just three attack errors on 32 attempts for a .406 hitting percentage. The Loggers were strong as well, putting down 12 kills and just one error on 27 attempts for a .407 clip but the Bearcats edged out the set victory, 25-21.

The Loggers got back to business in the third set, using a run of eight straight points early in the match to build a 12-4 lead. The eight-point advantage allowed the Loggers to withstand a late Willamette run to take the third set, 25-20.

In the final set, the Bearcats seemed to just run out of juice as the Loggers were able to put down 13 kills with just three errors on 31 attacks while the Bearcats had eight attack errors and just seven kills for a -.029 hitting percentage.

The Loggers were led by 12 kills each from Lindsey Denman (Kenmore, Wash./Inglemoor) and Kalli Kamphaus (Manson, Wash.). Senior Jamee Fred (Centennial, Colo./Grandview) put up 28 assists while junior Stephanie Harvey (Yakima, Wash./Eisenhower) added 19 assists in the win.

Willamette was led by a match-high 20 kills from southpaw Jessica McGraw. Jessica Durham added 14 kills while Clare Chedester put up 39 assists in the losing effort.

The announcement that Massey reached 500 came as a surprise to the Loggers head coach. His head coaching career began at Syracuse University in 1980, where he won 55 matches in three seasons. From there, he became head coach at Northeastern University in 1984, winning 96 matches over six seasons for the Huskies. In 1989, he moved out west and became head coach at Cal State LA, where he coached the Golden Eagles for seven seasons, winning 120 matches and earning himself a spot in the CSULA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003. Massey joined the Loggers for the 1996 season and Friday's victory brought his record at Puget Sound to 229-104.

The Loggers will be back in action on Oct. 31 when they play host to the Whitworth Pirates.

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