EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University volleyball team went on the road in Cascade Conference play this weekend and, for the first time in school history, came away with a pair of victories, taking down The Evergreen State University and Northwest University on the trek through Washington.

On Friday night the Beacons extended their all-time record against Evergreen State to 4-0 with a 25-14, 25-21, 25-18 victory. A traffic accident on Interstate 5 forced a late arrival for the Beacons into Olympia. They were given time to warm up, but not the two hours they are accustomed to, but they got warm quickly, storming out of the gates, hitting .289 in the first set.

The strong serving efforts all around would be a theme all weekend and it began with ten aces for the team on Friday night. Brooke Stribling had four of those aces, along with ten digs, eight kills and two blocks. Cassie Bishop (pictured) led the way on offense with 12 kills, hitting .300. She added ten digs. Mercedes LeClaire led the team with eleven digs and Whitney Hoff continued to lead the offense with 25 set assists. Hoff, Tessa Greatwood and Cotie Howard each had two more service aces apiece.

Evergreen State (1-14, 1-9 CCC) was led by Jessica Dubois, who had a double-double with ten kills and ten assists. Ann Forman recorded a match-high 15 digs and Kandice Gleaves led all players with four blocks. The Geoducks out-blocked the Beacons 6-4 in the match.

On Saturday the Beacons moved to Kirkland, Washington, where they downed Northwest University in convincing fashion, 25-18, 25-13, 25-23. Another ten service aces set the tone for the match, half of which came from Howard.

“We served really strong all weekend,” said Head Coach Mike Gaffaney, “especially on Saturday. Not only did we get all of the aces, but we were also forcing bad passes that put them out of their offensive system for most of the night.”

Stribling led the charge, collecting 16 kills. She had just two hitting errors and recorded a strong .467 hitting percentage, the fifth-best single-match kill percentage in school history. Bishop was at it again, collecting 18 digs and 9 kills while hitting .350. Greatwood had 13 digs and seven kills and Hoff finished just one assist short of the school record with 30.

The Beacons were out blocked once again, 6-to-1, with Northwest (6-11, 3-7 CCC) getting three blocks from Alisha Larion. Larion added nine kills without an error, hitting an astounding .643. Lauren Holtz also had nine kills in the losing effort.

After the match Gaffaney said, “I think this was our best all-around match of the season. We were serving well, digging everything and a win like this really builds our spirits and gives us some momentum going forward.”

Going forward will include a trip to Portland on Tuesday to take on Multnomah University (3-8) in non-conference action. The Beacons will then start the second half of the conference schedule on Friday night in Salem, taking on Corban College (7-8, 5-5 CCC. The Warriors knocked off NCU in four games earlier this season in Eugene.