The Northwest Christian University volleyball team got off to a hot start this week, winning all three of their matches at the William Jessup Invitational.
The Beacons began Thursday with a 3-0 victory over the University of Antelope Valley before taking down the hosts, 3-1 in the afternoon. NCU also took care of Simpson University 3-0 in their only Friday match.
In their debut foray against Antelope Valley, the Beacons brushed off a shaky match at the service line to sweep the victory 25-17, 28-26, 25-22. NCU hit .207 as a team, collecting seven blocks and 42 digs to counter 14 service errors.
"We had a bit of a shaky start," said head coach
Kelly Pitre. "We were still working out the nerves and we made it our goal to get stronger throughout the day."
Numerous first-timers made immediate impacts for the Beacons including
Natalie Downes who posted a match-high eight kills.
Claire Salness chipped in seven kills and seven digs and
Megan Van Marter was one of three Beacons to have three blocks. Veteran leadership prevailed as well with senior
Maci Beierleposting 31 assists and
Haley Damian collecting 11 digs.
William Jessup put NCU to the test in their second match, stretching the visitors to four sets as NCU won 25-19, 26-24, 20-25, 25-21. The Beacons added nine more blocks and 75 digs and ran an efficient offense with 17 kills in each of the first two sets.
Coach Pitre said, "Maci ran a quick tempo offense for us and our hitters did a great job going hard and aggressive. Jessup's defense was up the task today and we struggled to put the ball down against them and their effort level was hard to match, but it was great to get out of there with two wins today."
Salness once again stepped up, leading the Beacons with 13 kills and 12 digs to post the first double-double of the young campaign. Freshman
Kasey Campbell added 12 kills in the second match of her career as well. "Kasey and Claire had a big impact for us today in both the front and back row," said Pitre.
Beierle posted a double-double as well with 37 assists and 15 digs and it was
Kayla Olson leading the back row with 15 digs and two service aces. Senior
Keri Schwarz collected six blocks to go with her seven kills and Downes added eight kills, hitting .294.
NCU closed out the tournament with a 25-11, 25-12, 25-20 win over Simpson. NCU dominated all facets of the game, holding a 37-21 lead in kills, 6-3 edge in service aces, and 43-30 margin in digs. NCU hit a season high .337 as well.
The match was also another chance for the extended bench to see extended playing time with every player getting in on the action. Elle Vershingel led the way with seven kills while
Danielle Willyard scored the most points with five kills and four aces.
Carissa Allen also had five kills, hitting .500, and
Maci Beierle finished with 24 assists and eight digs. Both
Kayla Olson and
Haley Damian also had eight digs.
Pitre said, "This tournament was a great opportunity for us to grow as a team and do some fine tuning before we start conference. We had a great fan base of family and friends here to cheer us on and we could feel their support. This group of young women is so fun to be around and it is going to be a fun year laughing with them off the court and watching them grow into stronger athletes on the court."
The Beacons (3-0) will return to Oregon for a number of scrimmages next week, culminating in the alumni game on Friday, August 25 at 5:00 pm. The conference schedules begins two weeks from today when the team travels to Multnomah University.