Match 1 - The Northwest University Eagles opened their season with a 3-1(25-21, 18-25, 25-22, 25-20) win over the University of Great Falls in the opening match of the second annual CCC/Frontier Challenge which pits teams from the Cascade Collegiate and Frontier conferences.

Olivia VanDlac led Northwest (1-0) with 9 kills with Rae Anne Haistings adding 8 kills for the Eagles. Sophomore Ashton Arbuthnot had a game high 30 assists and Leia Roy led the Eagles with 15 digs.

Said NU head coach, Steven Bain, "The players have really invested in the process so I am happy to see them get a return on their investment. Now we need to build on this victory to make changes that will allow continued improvement."

Match 2 - In the second game of the day, Northwest took on Rocky Mountain College in match which proved to be one of the best matches of the day. RMC came out on top with a 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-15, 11-15)

Rocky Mountain took a close first set, 25-22 but the Eagles came back to take the second set, 25-19. In a see-saw battle, RMC took the third set 25-21 which saw 7 ties. With the set tied 19-19, RMC scored two straight on a kill by Anna Dewald and an NU attack error to lead 21-19. NU's Rae Ann Haistings closed the gap to 22-21 with her kill, but the Battlin' Bears scored four straight points as Mariah Stiffarm and Tori Bertsch closed out the set with a kill and service ace.

In the 4^th set and leading 8-5, Northwest would go on a 6-0 run capped off by a Haistings kill to take a 13-5 as the Eagles would maintain the lead the remainder of the set to take the 25-25 set win.

The fifth and deciding set was a tight contest. With the set tied a 6-all, RMC would score three straight to take a 9-6 lead. Northwest would battle back to make it 10-11 on an RMC attack error, but two kills by Yang Yang's would give the Bears a 13-10 lead before NU would call a timeout. Ahlea Billis' service ace would make it 14-10, but Rae Ann Haistings' kill would make it 14-11. Yang Yang would end the set and match with her 21st kill of the day lifting Rocky Mountain to the 3-2 match win.

Northwest U's (1-1) Rae Ann Hastings led the Eagles with 20 kills and a .391 hitting percentage. Ashton Arbuthnot had another match high with 41 assists and teammate Leia Roy had a match high 39 digs. Arbuthnot added 11 digs for a double-double while Haistings had 9 digs.

Rocky Mountain's (2-0) Yang Yang led the way with a match high 21 kills and 10 digs for a double-double while teammate Anna Dewald added 11 kills for the Battlin' Bears. Jennifer Donaldson led RMC with 26 digs and Tori Bertsch led the team in assists with 22.

"It was back and forth in this match," said Coach Bain. "The players held their composure and fought hard to force the 5th set. We just failed to execute down the stretch and that was the difference in the match. Still, I was pleased with the effort and the lessons learned today and it will help us to be better tomorrow."

Northwest U. will return to the court on Friday with two more matches when they take on Carroll College at 10 a.m. and Montana Western at 2 p.m., at the Hub Sports Center.