Patty Batoon had 7 kills and hit .353 but Multnomah was unable to overcome Warner Pacific and Janessa Mast's 19 kills in a 3-0 home loss Wednesday.
WARNER PACIFIC 3, MULTNOMAH 0: Lions Unable to Mast-er Knights in Home Loss
PORTLAND, Ore. – Unable to find an answer for Warner Pacific College's Janessa Mast, the NAIA national leader in kills, the Multnomah University Lions dropped a 3-0 decision (25-18, 25-21, 25-13) to the visiting Knights in a Cascade Collegiate Conference women's volleyball match Wednesday night here at Lytle Gym.
Keyed by a pair of kills from Jordan Hunter, the Knights jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening set and the Lions spent the rest of the game trying to catch up. They nearly succeeded – twice, in fact – first cutting the deficit to 11-9 behind two Sydney Amundsen kills. Warner pulled away again to a 15-9 lead, but the Lions trimmed the margin to two for a second time at 17-15 on the strength of two Miranda Halverson kills and a winner by Madysen Trout. Two kills and block by Mast sparked a 6-0 Knights' run, however, that salted the set away.
Set two could not have been tighter with 18 ties, six lead changes, and neither team holding more than a two-point lead until the score reached 21-21. At that point Mast, who had eight kills in the set, served four straight winning points, capped by a Melisa Ljuca kill, to close out the set and secure a 2-0 lead for the visitors.
Mast had four kills in a row as Warner Pacific opened up a 7-1 lead in the third set, but the Lions roared back as two kills by Halverson, two by Amundsen, and one by Maile Kam, all on consecutive points, made it an 8-8 game. The Knights broke the tie with a spike by M'Kailah Redden, and a pair of 6-0 runs enabled WPC to build an insurmountable 24-12 advantage. Warner finished with a .400 hitting percentage in the set while holding the Lions to a minus -.029 mark.
--- By the Numbers: Halverson led Multnomah with nine kills while Amundsen and Patty Batoon had seven each, Batoon hitting .353 with only one error. Marissa Rhodes passed out 14 assists and Kayla Keane had 10. Sabrina DeJesus-Bair made eight digs, and Trout posted four blocks (one solo and three assisted).
Mast, who entered the match with a 4.95 kills-per-set average, improved her numbers with 19 kills, the only Knight in double figures. Kealia Rosa handed out 30 assists, while Meghan Turner made 16 digs. Lauren Jones contributed five block assists.
Multnomah is now 8-19 on the season and 3-15 in the CCC, while Warner Pacific improved to 6-12 overall and in the conference.
--- Quoting coach Jenna Bouey: "Warner did a great job tonight with their passing and defense. We had great moments but in the end couldn't overcome our own errors to win."
--- Next: Multnomah hosts Evergreen State College while Warner Pacific welcomes in Northwest University (Wash.), both CCC matches Friday at 7:00 p.m.