PORTLAND, Ore. – Rebounding from a tough three-set loss to Concordia on Friday night, Northwest Christian used solid defense and timely hitting to sweep Warner Pacific 25-14, 25-14, 25-21 in Cascade Conference volleyball action on Saturday at C.C. Perry Gym.

The visiting Beacons (6-2, 1-1 CCC) swung for 33 kills in the match compared to just 20 for the Host Knights (1-2, 0-2 CCC), as the WPC hitters never got on track. NCU dug up 57 balls, led by Dana Clark's 21 which led to just a .010 attack percentage for Warner Pacific.

Head Coach Mike Gaffaney said, “We really changed things up from Friday night and they played with more intensity throughout the entire match. I'm proud of the girls for stepping things up when they needed to.”

Set one was close early on as the score was 14-13 in favor of NCU after a Beacon hitting error. NCU proceeded to reel off 11 of the next 12 points to win the frame going away, 25-14.

Northwest Christian sprinted out to a big lead in set two, leading 12-3 after a block by Maren Mansfield and Danielle Nance. A little later the Knights tried to rally, scoring four straight points behind strong serving from Loren Hernandez to make the score 18-11 in favor of NCU. Mansfield hit for a pair of kills down the stretch to thwart the comeback attempt however, and NCU won the frame handily 25-14.

Warner Pacific was determined to make it a match and came out strong in set three. A Carly Barker kill gave the Knights their largest lead of the night at 13-10, and the host team looked poised to prolong the match. After a side out for NCU, Emily O'Neal toed the service line and fired over three service aces during a 6-0 run and gave the Beacons the lead for good. The Knights fought back gamely to within 20-22 on a Kelsey Kurtz kill but could not overtake the lead.

Janel Fetters led the Beacon offense with nine kills. Cori Wallace directed the attack with 26 assists. O'Neal finished with six aces, seven digs, and six kills, hitting .500. “Emily was on fire tonight,” said Gaffaney. “Between her aces, serving them out of system and putting down hard kills that made everyone in the building gasp, she really led us tonight.”

Warner Pacific was led by Carly Barker with four kills, while Kaylin Elms, Loren Hernandez and Kristina Naff had three kills each.

NCU travels to face Willamette on Wednesday before hosting College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon next weekend. WPC heads to Southern Oregon and Oregon Tech.