Eagles Open CCC Play with Sweep of WWU
KIRKLAND, Wash. - Northwest University opened their 2017 Cascade Collegiate Conference play with a 3-0 (25-10, 25-17, 25-19) sweep of Walla Walla University tonight infront of a boisterous crowd in the NU Pavilion.
NU broke out early in the first set taking a 16-6 after three straight kills by Mattie Jo Johnson, Keann White and Amanda Waterman. It would be a different trio of players closing out the set as Audrey Saelens, Sarah Howlett, and Sarah Warner would make it three straight Eagle kills for the set win.
After leading 11-4 to start the second set, Walla Walla would slowly chip away at the NU lead and make it a 12-10 with a 6-1 run after Caldora Blackburn’s kill. A 5-3 spurt by the Eagles would increase their lead to 17-13 and three kills at the end would make it a 2-0 set lead.
The Wolves from Walla Walla refused to go away easily and battled hard in the third set which would see four ties. With the set knotted at 10-10, NU would get kills by Keann White and Michal Bilger to give the Eagles a slim, 12-10 lead. WWU would pull to within one on two occasions, but the Eagles would get another kill from White to end the set and the match.
Northwest U (7-2, 1-0 CCC) hit .379 as a team and was led by Amanda Waterman and Mattie Jo Johnson with 7 kills. Johnson hit .636 for the match with 0 errors while Waterman hit .385. Courteney Carr led the Eagles with 22 assists and Alysanne Van Dyke finished with a match high 13 digs.
Lauren Barlow had 9 kills to lead Walla Walla U. (1-5, 0-2 CCC). WWU was limited to .090 hitting as a team while Lauren Bosler had 11 assists and Nilah Mata'afa had a team high 11 digs.
"There was a great atmosphere in the gym tonight and I feel both teams fed off the crowd's energy," said Steven Bain, NU coach. "I was impressed with how hard Walla Walla played each point and their defense forced us to be patient on long rallies. We were solid in serve-receive, for the most part, which allowed us to run efficient offense and side out at a high percentage."