Greatwood Serves Up NCC Victory Over EOU
EUGENE, Ore. -- Behind the strength of 11 service aces, including a school-record nine from Tessa Greatwood, Northwest Christian College knocked off Eastern Oregon on Friday night, 22-30, 30-27, 30-27, 30-23.
The Mounties took early control of the match, building a 13-9 lead in game one. They never trailed in the game, connecting on 50 percent of their attack and walked away with an eight-point win. Senior outside hitter Chelsea Lally got a very productive personal night off on the right foot, making seven kills without an error on 12 attempts. Alissa Clinton added 13 assists in the game.
Eastern continued to maintain a small lead in the early moments of game two and held an 11-10 advantage when the momentum shift began. After a kill from Ashley Blanchfill, Greatwood took to the air and fired four straight aces off of her jump serve. The Beacons went up 15-11 and maintained a slight edge through the next service rotation. When it got back to Greatwood, the Beacons were up 22-19. She went back to the jump serve and produced another four straight service aces, giving the Beacons a seven-point edge.
The Mounties kept things interesting, fighting back to within two points late in game two, but to no avail. They would go on to do the same thing in game three. After NCC captured a 22-15 advantage, EOU mounted another comeback. They scored five straight, and won seven out of the next eight points to climb within one point, and trailed 28-27, but consecutive kills from Cotie Howard and Blanchfill gave the Beacons the third-game win and a 2-1 edge.
Eastern, having grown accustomed to playing catch-up, again saw the Beacons run out in front. NCC was up 21-11, taking its biggest lead of the match, but again the Mounties charged, rattling off a 9-2 rally to climb within three points. NCC was leading 25-22 when a Melissa Bishop kill broke the EOU serve, and the Beacons closed out the game and the match with a 5-1 run.
Northwest Christian (7-5, 2-3 Cascade Collegiate Conference) was led by Brooke Stribling who put together her second consecutive 20/20 performance with 20 kills and a match-high 22 digs, to go with three block assists. Blanchfill finished with a double-double as well, scoring 11 kills, 15 digs and a pair of blocks. Bishop finished with 13 kills and Howard ended her evening with nine kills and four blocks. Mercedes LeClaire added 17 digs.
Eastern Oregon (5-6, 3-3 CCC) was led by Lally and Grace DeBoodt, who registered 20 kills apiece. Lally, who did not record an error until the fourth game, finished the match with a team-high .354 hitting percentage (20-3-48), and led the Mounties with 20 digs. Serena Simpson threw in 19 digs of her own and Clinton ended her night with a match-best 41 assists in the losing effort.
Northwest Christian College will be back in action tomorrow afternoon as it plays host to N o. 11 Albertson College of Idaho, with first serve scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern Oregon heads home for a weekend series with the Washington schools, Northwest on Friday and Evergreen State on Saturday.