Walla Walla Falls to Multnomah in Five-Set Thriller
WWU Sports Information
College Place, Wash. – Walla Walla hosted the Lions of Multnomah University on Sunday afternoon for their first matchup of the season. The Wolves (1-16, 0-10 CCC) overcame a 2-0 deficit and forced a fifth set before the Lions (1-9, 1-9 CCC) prohibited the Wolves from winning the final set. The Lions escaped with a 16-14 win in the final set to claim their first conference win of the season.
In the early stages of the opening set, the Lions held an early advantage, 9-6. The Wolves reeled off a 5-0 run to claim the lead before the Lions answered with a 5-0 run of their own to reclaim the lead. The teams exchanged points deeper into the set while the Wolves looked to chip into their deficit. Trailing 23-22, the Wolves had an opportunity to tie the set up, but the Lions converted the last two points via a Kamaile Labanon kill and Emma Morcom and Faith Fraatz assisted block to claim the opening set, 25-23.
Set two saw the Lions start strong, as they used the momentum from set one and put the Wolves in a hole early and extended their lead to 15-6. The Lions continued their attack and took advantage of the Wolves not being able to find any a rhythm. The Lions took set two 25-9 and a 2-0 set-lead in the match.
With their backs against the wall and trying to flip the script, the Wolves were able to open set three with a decisive 10-6 run. The Wolves extended and maintained a five-point lead as the Lions continued to try and cut into their deficit. The Lions took advantage of four Wolves errors to cut the lead to 17-20 before the Wolves regrouped and held off a rally, claiming set three 25-22.
In set four the Wolves had a perfect start to the opening set, reeling off four straight points, highlighted by Lions errors. The teams continued to exchange points with the Wolves extending their lead to five at 20-15. The Lions committed four errors that contributed to a 5-0 run the Wolves used to close out the set and tie up the match at two.
In the fifth set, as both teams saw their first conference win on the horizon, it was a thriller up to the very last point. Both teams held a small two-point lead before the other team came back to tie the score back up. With the Wolves holding a slim 12-11 lead, the Lions put together their most decisive run of the match, a 3-0 run that gave them a 14-12 lead. The Wolves, determined as ever to not go down without a fight, scored the next two points off Lion errors to tie up the set at 14. After a Taryn Frey kill, the Lions found themselves on the right side of a Wolves ball handling error that gave them their 16 point and victory in the pivotal set, claiming the match 3-2.
Multnomah received double-doubles from Kamaile Labanon (15 kills, 18 digs) and Amanda Hold (38 assists, 13 digs).
Walla Walla was led by Sarah Halversen (10 kills), Gabrielle Browning (9 kills, 14 digs), and Caldora Blackburn (11 digs, 9 kills). Krista Schafer notched a career-high 22 assists.
Walla Walla will host No. 7-Ranked Corban University, which is one of three top-10 ranked CCC opponents, as their next match on Thursday, October 10 at 6 p.m. Multnomah heads to Kirkland, Wash. to take on Northwest University on Friday, October 11 at 7 p.m.