Corban's women's volleyball team attempted to extend its winning streak to two matches, but could not overcome 50 kills by George Fox Tuesday night.
Corban Falls to D-III Member George Fox
BOX SCORE
NEWBERG, Ore. – Despite a match-high tying 13 kills from sophomore Tiffany Land (Independence, Ore.), Corban's women's volleyball team fell to NCAA Division III member George Fox, 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 20-25, 21-25), Tuesday night inside the Wheeler Sports Center.
Coming off a three-set victory over conference rival Northwest Christian on Friday, Corban was looking to extend its unbeaten streak to a season-high two matches. Unfortunately, the visiting Warriors ran into a GFU squad that was coming off a three-set sweep of NCU on Saturday and has now won seven of its last nine matches.
In the opening set, Corban held two leads (1-0 & 2-1) following a service ace by freshman Karisa Calderon (Murrieta, Calif.) to open the match followed by a bad set by George Fox. The host Bruins would grab a four-point lead (13-9) after a block by GFU's Eliza Pledger. Corban would fight back to tie the set at 18-18 after a kill by Land before George Fox would use a set-closing 7-4 run that was capped by a bad set by the Warriors for the opening three-point victory (25-22) for the Bruins.
Set #2 would see Corban fall behind early (8-2) following back-to-back kills by Pledger before the visiting Warriors would battle back to claim a five-point lead (23-18) late thanks to a kill by junior Teri Braun (Dallas, Ore.). Both teams would trade points over the next combined four, as Corban would grab the victory (25-20) via another Land kill that knotted the match at one set apiece.
The third set was controlled by George Fox, as the Bruins jumped out to a quick four-point lead (6-2) before extending their advantage to as much as six points (24-18) after a Betsy Wilhelm kill. Corban would get as close as four points (24-20) after a GFU attack error. Unfortunately, the Warriors could not get any closer as George Fox used another Wilhelm kill for the five-point win (25-20).
In the fourth and final set, George Fox scored the opening eight points before Corban used a 10-3 run to pull within one point (11-10) after a service ace by freshman Chandra Baskoro (Gresham, Ore.). George Fox would never give up the lead though, as the Bruins pushed their advantage to as much as five points (21-16) following a Kaityln Maddams kill. Another kill by Braun would pull the Warriors to within three points (22-19) before George Fox used a set-closing 3-2 run for the 25-21 victory and four-set win.
Besides Land's match-high tying kills performance, Baskoro and Braun added 10 and 9 kills respectively. Calderon led the Warriors' offense with a team-best 28 assists, while junior Rebecca Franke (Pendleton, Ore.) anchored Corban's back line with a match-high 27 digs. At the net, Corban registered a match-high 10 blocks led by freshmen Morgan Hirzel (Fullerton, Calif.) and McKenzie Purnell's (Adrian, Ore.) team-leading three blocks each.
George Fox was led by Jennifer Panico's match-high tying 13 kills, while Lyndsey Hovee and Pledger added 10 kills each. Offensively, the host Bruins were led by Ali Toedtemeier's match-high 29 assists to go along with Hovee's team-best 23 digs.
With tonight's loss, Corban falls to 3-10 overall versus George Fox's 7-3 win-loss record. The Warriors will return to the court on Friday, September 25th, when they host the Hustlin' Owls of Oregon Tech beginning at 7:00 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.