SEATTLE, Wash. - Head Coach Hannah Long knew her Pirates were in for a tough weekend, opening with two nationally-ranked opponents, but had a rough go of it as they begin the 2012 season 1-3.

The Pirates opened the weekend with UC Santa Cruz and were in each game but beat to the finish as they fell 25-20, 25-21, 25-21. As a team they posted just a .099 hitting percentage for the match while the Banana Slugs posted a .218 hitting percentage.

After the loss, SU had to rebound to play nationally-ranked Pacific Lutheran and started out strong winning the first two games 25-21 and 25-23. Southwestern continued to play well and seemed poised to win the match, leading by four late in the third set, but PLU turned up the heat and got on a roll to take the third set 25-19.

With momentum on their side, Pacific Lutheran posted a .405 hitting percentage to win the fourth set 25-18 and cruised in the final set 15-9 to win 3-2.

Day two pitted Southwestern against Puget Sound, another nationally-ranked powerhouse. Southwestern once again had trouble getting things going offensively, hitting .081 percent and fell in three straight for the second time on the weekend.

The Pirates bounced back and began to return to form during their final game of the tournament, winning 3-0 over St. Olaf. SU had two sets where they hit over .200 and defensively held St. Olaf to just .039.

At the conclusion of the tournament senior outside hitter Rachel Thibodeau was announced as a member of the all-tournament team after averaging nearly 3.5 kills per set with a .164 hitting percentage, first on the team in service aces with five and was second on the team in digs per set with 4.71. Chandler Lentz had a sensational opening weekend, averaging a team high 4.86 digs per set.

Southwestern heads to Sherman, Texas this weekend to face St. Thomas (TX) and Dallas Christian on Friday afternoon and Schreiner and Howard Payne on Saturday.