KIRKLAND, Wash. - Northwest University defeated Corban College tonight, 3-1 (29-27, 26-24, 13-25, 25-22) in a tightly contested match in the Pavilion.

Set one saw Northwest (7-13, 4-9 CCC) break out to an early 8-3 lead, but Corban got things going to score six unanswered points to take a 9-8 lead. Three consecutive Corban attack errors would see NU regaining the lead at 13-12 and the Eagles never trailed from that point on although the Warriors tied the set four times until two kills by NU's outside hitter Lauren Holtz (Soph., Brier, Wash.) and an attack error and bad set ended in with Northwest winning 20-27.

In Set two, three consecutive errors by Northwest put Corban into the lead  10-9, but the Eagles battled back to regain the lead, 16-13, on freshman Anu Akamine's (Hauula, Hawaii) service ace. NU led the rest of the way except for two ties (23-23, 24-24) late in the set before NU closed out the Warriors.

All four sets were close with the exception of set three in which Northwest broke out to a 13-8 lead only to see Corban score 17 straight points to win the set. Time outs by the Eagles couldn't stop the Warrior scoring spree.

Set four saw the Eagles trailing early at 4-3, but two Corban attack errors and a kill by NU's senor Madeleine Krahn put the Eagles in the lead for good (9-5) although NU would not lead by more than four points and Corban would battle back again and again to tie the set twice at 19 a piece and 22 all. Two kills by Northwest and two attack errors by Corban would give NU the 25-22 victory.

Northwest U. was led by sophomore Lauren Holtz (Brier, Wash.) who finished with 11 kills and 16 defensive digs. Setter Libby Hellwig (Jr., Exeter, Calif.) had a game high 28 assists for the Eagles plus 11 digs. Andrea Cotton (Jr., Kenmore, Wash.) contributed 15 digs for the Eagles.

Corban (9-9, 7-6 CCC) was led by Rachel Gowen's game high 13 kills while teammate Tiffany Land finished with 10 kills on the night. Megan Dees had 17 assists for the Warriors and Amy Thompson had 22 defensive digs and teammate Rebecca Franke added another 20.

"I'm really proud of our team in the way they played with guts and perseverance tonight," said head coach Mary Cotton. "We were without Tarah Petrick but our team pulled together and never quit. It's a good start to the second half of conference play."

NU will host Concordia University tomorrow night and Corban will travel south to Olympia to take on the Evergreen State College in more cascade Conference play. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m.