Eagles Defeat SOU in Four Sets 10/7/2016 10:07:12 PM KIRKLAND, Wash. - Northwest University held off a Southern Oregon comeback to defeat the Raiders 3-1 (25-12, 25-20, 22-25, 25-23). After taking the first set 25-12 hitting .292 with one error while holding Southern Oregon to a -.032 hitting percentage, the next three sets would be closely contested. The Eagles took an early 14-7 lead in the second set, but Southern Oregon would slowly chip away at the NU lead and Nila Lukens and Taylor Ristvedt’s kills would make it a 23-19 set. Amanda Waterman would come through for NU with a kill to close out the set. SOU would come back strong in set three to take a 12-8 lead. A kill by Northwest U’s Michal Bilger would make it a 14-13 SOU lead, but the Raiders would outscore the Eagles to take a 21-16 lead on an Emma Gasman kill. Southern Oregon would go on to win the set capped off by Courtney Macklin’s kill to make it a 2-1 match. 15 ties would mark a close fourth set as the teams would battle to win the set. NU would take a 13-11 lead only to see SOU come back to tie the set at 13-13. From that point on there would be 9 ties. In the set’s final tie at 23-all, Mattie Jo Johnson would make it match point and a bad set by SOU would give the set and match to Northwest U. Northwest U's (12-4, 9-2 CCC) Hannah Hanson, Dakota Adams and Mattie Jo Johnson teamed up for 9 kills each with Johnson hitting .421 for the match. Morgan Pilon had a team high 37 assists and Leia Roy led the Eagles with 18 digs. Southern Oregon (9-9, 6-5 CCC) was led by Emma Gasman's 12 kills with Ariana Sattler adding 10 kills for the Raiders. Lauren McGowne had the match high 40 assists and Ashlyn Flynn finishing with a match high 25 digs. “We knew going into this match that Southern Oregon would play with great effort and intensity because it's their DNA,” stated NU head coach, Steven Bain. “They made some adjustments between the 2nd and 3rd sets with their offense that put pressure on our defense and it took us some time to recover. As a result, the fourth set was a battle and one of the keys for us was our ability to match them in serve-receive. Our composure at the end was also solid and we were fortunate at the end to make plays and close out the match.” Northwest U will remain home and host Oregon Tech tomorrow at 5 p.m. while Southern Oregon travels to Olympia, Wash. to play Evergreen.