Northwest Defeats Corban in Four Close Sets
KIRKLAND, Wash. – Northwest University defeated Corban University in four tightly contested sets tonight, 3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 29-31, 25-23), in Cascade Conference play.
The first set would see 12 ties as the teams battled back and forth with Northwest holding the slight edge for most of the set. NU would lead 11-9, but Corban would fight back and knot the score at 11-11, capped off by Chandra Baskoro’s kill. Three Corban miscues would give NU a brief 14-12 lead, but Corban would come back once again to take the lead 15-14 after two NU errors and a service ace by Tiffany Land. The set would swing back and forth until NU would break a 20-20 tie to score the final 5 points of the set.
In the second set, Northwest would break out to a 17-7 lead and would lead the entire set although Corban would not go away easily and would close to 22-18 on kills by Courtney Shropshire and Claire Bailey followed by two miscues by the Eagles. Nu would then outscore Corban 3-1 on two kills by Breanna Covey, and one by Arika Zwack.
Set three would see more of the same as neither team would be able to establish a large lead as there would be 18 ties throughout the set. With the set tied at 29-all, Corban would win the set aided by Claire Bailey’s kill and topped off by a service ace by Tiffany Land.
In the fourth and deciding set, Northwest would lead the entire way, but Corban would continue to press the Eagles and battle. NU would lead 19-14, but Corban would come back to pull to within two, 19-17. NU would be up 21-18, but two Corban kills would pull the Warriors to within one at 21-20. NU’s sophomore, Sarah Stoker would come through with two kills to end the set and match.
Molly Boyle led Northwest U. (4-5, 2-2 CCC) with 14 kills and two service aces. Lauryn Ernster would have a team high 40 assists (13 digs) and libero, Heather Shulke would contribute a game high 27 digs. Breanna Covey added 11 kills and Anu Akamine would finish with 13 digs.
Chandra Baskoro had a game high 18 kills for Corban (7-6, 1-4 CCC) and added 12 digs. Katherine Salness finished with a game high 41 assists while adding 13 digs. Bethany Durre led the team with 19 digs.
Northwest resumes conference play tomorrow night when they host Northwest Christian in the NU Pavilion at 7 p.m. Corban travels south to Olympia to take on the Evergreen State College.