EUGENE, Ore. – For the second night in a row, the Northwest Christian University volleyball team pushed an NAIA Top-15 team to the brink, falling in five sets to No. 12 College of Idaho, 25-19, 14-25, 20-25, 25-20, 17-15.
The Beacons (8-3, 0-2) fell in five on Friday night to No. 10 Eastern Oregon and played a similar match on Saturday, going neck-and-neck with the Yotes, a team they have defeated just once in school history. The Beacons had the first match-point opportunity, leading 14-13 in the fifth but C of I responded with three of the final four points to escape Eugene with a win.
The Yotes (7-3, 1-1 CCC) rebounded after dropping their conference opener to Corban on Friday night in three sets. NCU held the advantage in nearly every statistical category in the match but the Yotes won on volume, collecting 54 kills as they swung 25 more times than the home team.
Ashley Pagan (pictured) and Jordan Boswell led the offense as the both posted double-doubles; Pagan with 12 kills and 18 digs, Boswell with 12 kills and ten digs. Kaydre Thompson had a double-double of her own, putting down ten kills and ten block assists as the Yotes out-blocked NCU, 16-14.
Northwest Christian was led by junior Claire Salness who hit .297 with a match-high 14 kills, adding 14 digs and a match-high three service aces. Coming less than 24-hours after an off-night that saw her hit .032 with six kills, Coach Corwin was pleased with what he saw on Friday.
“We looked at some film on her approach and noticed something minute, but it made a big difference,” said Corwin. “She is a great coachable, teachable player and applied what we talked about and played like Claire. We need that from her and I’m excited for the rest of the season for her.”
The Beacons posted 14 blocks, giving them 29 for the weekend. Leading the block was Natalie Downes with eight, followed by six apiece from Payton Jones and Taylor Gould. “Our blocking has been stellar this weekend,” said Corwin. “We’ve been talking about it a lot and they have taken everything and applying it and we are seeing the fruits.”
Mary Grace Blaser came in off the bench on Saturday and collected 13 digs while Kayla Olson owned a team-high 16. Makenna Northern posted her sixth double-double of the season as she collected 32 assists and ten digs.
The College of Idaho remain on the road this week for a pair of matches, facing Walla Walla University on Wednesday and Eastern Oregon on Thursday.
The Beacons hit the road for Washington and will take on Evergreen on Friday and Northwest on Saturday. Despite the pair of defeats, coach Corwin is looking forward to getting back on the court to see where the Beacons can take things. He said, “It is hard for us to establish expectations this season. We just took two top-15 teams in the country to five sets and I don’t know how that stacks up in NCU’s history and I don’t know if it even matters, but I’m looking at what we have ahead of us and as a coach it is very exciting. We battled and we didn’t stop fighting and that is the personality of this team.”