Wolves Volleyball Notches Their First Win of the Season at New Hope
Paul Starkebaum, Sports Information Director
Three sets is all it took for the Wolves (1-9) to get their first win of the season. The Wolves took down the Deacons of New Hope Christian College (2-6) in three straight sets. A strong attack lead be the trio of Emily Allen ( 6 kills on 10 attacks), Maria Darling (7 kills) and Lauren Barlow (8 kills and 12 digs) all contributed big time at the net. Krista Schafer (13 assists) and Nilah Mata'afa (8 assists) split duties setting up the attack. Samantha Clevenger lead New Hope with six kills on the night.
The first set was a back and forth affair, with the Wolves emerging late in the set with control. Tied at 21 , the Wolves got on a roll, ending with a kill by Morgan Doyle 25-22. Walla Walla had their defense dialed in tonight, limiting the balanced attack from the Deacons.
Set two was a different story for the Wolves, who found themselves down 7-0 early. A kill by Maria Darling broke the streak and Walla Walla started the comeback. A passing error by New Hope would tie the score at 14-14, from there the Wolves slowly pulled ahead, but the never got more than three points ahead of the Deacons. After a long rally, a kill by Ashlyn Ghazal ended the set and put the Wolves up 2-0.
Early in the third set Walla Walla took the lead and would never give it back. After extending it to 13-7, the Deacons closed the gap and made a strong push to get back into the set, and got the match back within in 2 points, but was not able to tie it back up. An attack by Lauren Barlow proved difficult for New Hope to handle and the Wolves finished off the set at 25-18.
The Wolves will look to build on this win as they continue their road trip tomorrow, when they head to Klamath Falls to take on Oregon Tech. Saturday night the Wolves are in Ashland to take on Southern Oregon University.