Eagles Take Down Beacons in Straight Sets
KIRKLAND, Wash. - No. 20 Northwest University defeated Northwest Christian in straight sets, 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-21) to improve to 6-1 in Cascade Conference play.
Set one belonged to the Eagles as they hit .273 while committing only two errors while Northwest Christian struggled with 9 errors and a .000 hitting percentage. After taking a 10-6 lead early, kills by Lara Linden and Mattie Jo Johnson would stretch the NU lead to 20-11 as Johnson would finish the set with another kill.
The Beacons battled back in the second set and after Northwest U would take a 12-9 lead, NCU would outscore the eagles 10-3 to take a 19-15 lead after a Cassidy Winter’s service ace. With NCU leading 21-18, Northwest U would go on a 3-0 run to tie the score at 21-21. With the score knotted at 22-22 Kills by Hannah Hanson and Johnson along with a Beacon attack error would give the Eagles the come from behind win.
Thirteen ties would make it a tightly contested third set as neither team could manage to pull away. NU would take advantage of a Beacon service error and kill by Morgan Pilon to break a 16-16 tie to take an 18-16 lead which they would not relinquish. Hannah Hanson and Dakota Adams would increase the NU lead to 22-18 as the Eagles would go on to the 25-21 set win and close out the match.
Hannah Hanson and Mattie Jo Johnson led the way for Northwest U (9-3, 6-1 CCC) with 8 kills each with Hanson hitting .421 and Johnson averaging .353 for the Eagles. Morgan Pilon has a match high 31 assists and senior Leia Roy had 19 defensive digs. The Eagles were good at the net with 9 blocks tonight.
For Northwest Christian (5-8, 3-4 CCC), Kendall Bergsten had 10 kills and 6 digs. Teammate Maci Beierle led the Beacons with 26 assists and Haley Damian registered 16 digs and Sydney Rothenbush added 13 digs.
“First, I want to give NW Christian credit for their defensive effort,” said Steven Bain, NU head coach. “They were in terrific positions all night and when combined with their strong serving they challenged us the entire match. On our side of the net, I thought we met the challenge for the most part, especially when we were down in the second set. Even so, we still have significant opportunity for growth in our emotional energy and mindset. This is a tough conference and those two things have to be in place if you are going to play each point with the proper effort and focus.”
Northwest U hosts No. 24 Corban in a key CCC match tomorrow night in Kirkland while Northwest Christian will travel to Olympia, Wash., to take on The Evergreen State College.