Bushnell University

PORTLAND, Ore. – After dropping the first two sets on Friday night, Northwest Christian University stormed back to take a 3-2 win over Warner Pacific, 21-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-23, 15-13. Junior Chandler Gabrio posted a career-high 22 kills to lead the way.
 
The win made it five straight for the Beacons over their CCC foes from Portland. NCU has now won 9 of the last ten meetings, dating back to 2010. With the win, NCU moved to 6-8 overall and 3-7 in the conference, remaining in sixth place. Warner Pacific drops to 4-11 overall, 2-8 in the CCC.
 
The first stanza set the tone for what would be a dramatically close contest all evening. After the Knights jumped out to an early 3-1 lead, the Beacons rallied to tie the match at 4-4. It was the first of ten ties in the set, which also featured four lead changes. No team led by more than three points before the final four-point edge for Warner Pacific.
 
Set two proved to be less even with WPC hitting .417 and holding the lead from wire-to-wire. However, after trailing by as many as seven points, the Beacons rallied back to within two points at 22-20 before the Knights finishing things off with three straight points.
 
Trailing by two sets and on the verge of a road loss, the Beacons used the break to refocus, returning with a vengeance in the third. When all was said and done, the Beacons hit .323 with just two attack errors, while benefitting from ten unforced errors by Warner Pacific. The battle continued to be intensely tight with another 15 tie scored, seven lead changes, and not team ever leading by more than three points.
 
NCU found themselves on the cusp of a three-set sweep, trailing 22-19. A kill and service ace by Gabrio, followed by a Chelsea McGowan kill brought them all the way back and after trading points for a 23-23 deadlock, a bad set from Warner Pacific and a kill by Katie Reeder gave the Beacons the win.
 
The Beacons needed to rally again in the fourth set as Warner Pacific had established a 16-11 lead after some early-set tussles. A Cara Wonsley kill kept WPC ahead 19-16 when Northwest Christian began their charge. A pair of McGowan kills lift NCU on a 6-1 run, grabbing a 22-20 lead. They hung on from there, ending the set with a combo block from Gabrio and Kayla Ping.
 
Playing in just their second five-set match of the season, NCU was once again forced into an early see-saw battle with the Knights as the teams traded two early leads and were tied on four of the first seven points. The momentum quickly swung back towards NCU, grabbing a three-point lead at 12-9 on a Cassidy Winters service ace. Then the Knights did all they could to make it interesting, scoring four of the next five points to rally back to a 13-13 tie. McGowan, however, showed a healthy dose of senior leadership, punching in two straight kills to end the match.
 
Gabrio produced 22 kills, setting a personal record and tying the fourth-highest kill total in school history. She also led the team hitting .475 and collected three blocks. McGowan finished the night hitting .391 with 13 kills while Winters finished with nine kills. Ping led all NCU players with eight digs and three service aces. Senior Alyssa Dorr also had a career night collecting 52 assists, the highest total of her career and third most in NCU history.
 
Warner Pacific was led by Janessa White, collecting a match-high 25 kills, hitting .429. Devan Belshe added 17 kills and 11 digs while Kelsey Merritt also posted 11 digs, along with a match-high four service aces. Marchelle Bostic led all players with 58 assists.
 
NCU returns to action on Saturday night, traveling across town to take on Concordia University at 7 p.m. Warner Pacific stays home to face Corban University at 5 p.m.