Seniors: Hannah Hanson, Dakota Adams, Leia Roy, Mattie Keltner, and Lara Linden
Eagles Sweep Wolves on Senior Night
KIRKLAND, Wash. - Northwest U made ir a memorable senior night as they defeated Walla Walla in straight sets, 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-18) tonight in the NU Pavilion. Five NU seniors were recognized along with their families in a pre-match ceremony.
Walla Walla stayed right with the Eagles in the first set through six ties, but with the set tied for the 7th time at 12-12, NU would outscore the Wolves 6-0 in a run including kills by Amanda Waterman and Dakota Adams. The Eagles would maintain the lead the rest of the way as two WWU attack errors would end the set.
NU would take an early 13-8 lead, but WWU would battle back to make it a 14-12 set after a Lauren Barlow kill. A 6-2 scoring run by the Eagles would give NU a 20-14 lead as two kills by Mattie Jo Johnson and a service ace by Mattie Keltner would give NU the set victory.
The final set would be closely contested throughout as Northwest U would break a 13-13 deadlock to take a 15-13 lead on two WWU errors. Clinging to a 20-18 lead, Hannah Hanson’s kill would put the Eagles in front 20-17 as they would outscore the Wolves 5-1 and end the set and match on kills by Dakota Adams and Sydney Schlect.
Seniors Hannah Hanson (.400) and Dakota Adams (.467) led Northwest U (16-7, 13-5 CCC) with 8 kills each. Morgan Pilon and senior Brooke Riddle teamed up for 16 and 10 assists. Senior Leia Roy and Alysanne Van Dyke each had 11 digs. NU had 7 service aces for the contest.
Walla Walla (1-20, 0-17 CCC) was led by Lauren Barlow's 8 kills while teammates Brandy Woodward and Krista Schafer each had 11 assists for the Wolves. Carly Ursino tallied 11 digs.
Commented Eagle head coach, Steven Bain, “First, we have to give credit to Walla Walla. I thought they have continued to improve and I was impressed with how hard they played. On our side of the net, it took us a set to get untracked on offense but fortunately our serving and defense were able to carry us. Most importantly, we were able to get a solid win on Senior Night and we are looking forward to getting back to work on Monday. We have two tough opponents next weekend and our mindset and preparation has to be as good as we can make it.”