Hannah Hanson had 11 kills and a .625 hitting percentage tonight
Eagles Sweep Past Beacons
KIRKLAND, Wash. – Rae Ann Haistings and Hannah Hanson combined for 22 kills as Northwest University swept Northwest Christian 3-0 (25-21- 25-17, 25-23) to move into 6
th place and get closer to a spot in the CCC Championships. The two Eagles combined for a .485 hitting percentage.
In the first set, Northwest U broke out to an early 11-6 lead capped off by on of Rae Ann Haistings 11 kills. Two straight Alyssa Dorr service aces cut the Eagle lead to 13-12, but NU then went on a 4-2 run aided by another Haistings’ kill and three NCU errors. Sydney Rothenbush once again cut into the NU lead, 21-20 with her service ace, but Northwest U got a kill by Hanna Hanson and another by Haistings to give the set win to the Eagles.
The second set would be tight with NU leading 11-10, but Northwest U would then outscore the Beacons 10-3 to take a 21-13 lead after a Leia Roy service ace. The set would belong to the Eagles and a Hannah Hanson kill and Arika Zwack ace would end the set in favor of the Eagles.
Northwest Christian gave their all in the third set to force a fourth as the teams would battle through 9 ties. NCU would take a 21-20 lead after Chandler Gabrio’s kill, but the Eagles would battle back and Dakota Adams would tie it at 21-21 and Amanda Waterman’s kill would give the lead back to NU, 23-21. Once again NCU would battle back to within one- 24-23, but Waterman would come through with another timely kill to end the set and the match.
Northwest U’s (13-14, 6-10 CCC) Hanson hit an impressive .625 on her way to 11 kills and Haistings hit .346 to total her 11 kills for the night. Brooke Riddle had 18 assists, Morgan Pilon with 17 assists and Leia Roy had 10 defensive digs for the Eagles who hit .290 as a team.
Chandler Gabrio led the way for Northwest Christian (8-11, 5-10 CCC) with her match high 15 kills and added 9 digs. Alyssa Dorr posted a match high 25 assists and tied for match honors with 10 digs. The Beacons were limited to only .071 hitting as a team.
Said Eagle coach, Steven Bain, “We struggled in serve-receive early but that was Northwest Christian’s doing as they are a really tough serving team and put pressure on us. Our players did a nice job adjusting though and then we were able to settle down and side out at a high percentage. I especially liked the way the team stayed on task defensively and at the end of the evening that was a key to the match.”
Northwest U plays their final regular season home match tomorrow night while NCU travels to Olympia to take on the Evergreen State College.