EUGENE, Ore. – Northwest Christian University was only able to come out of the weekend with a split after falling in three sets to Southern Oregon University on Saturday, 25-23, 25-14, 25-23.
 
Using some of the momentum that they carried out of their sweep of Oregon Tech on Friday night, the Beacons gave the No. 10 ranked team in the NAIA a run for their money in the first set, battling through seven lead changes and nine ties through the first 26 rallies. After Chelsea McGowan tied the match at 13-13 with a kill, Southern Oregon went on a 6-1 run to open up a five-point advantage.
 
NCU chipped away, eventually climbing to within one point, 22-21 on a combo-block from McGowan and Juniper McDonald.  After trading service errors, Motade Atanda was able to seal the first set win with two kills. Atanda had seven kills in the set.
 
The Beacons never led in the second set as Southern Oregon opened up a 13-5 lead. The Beacons got as close as five points but SOU rolled to the win with 13 kills and just three attack errors in the set.
 
Early kills from Katie Reeder (pictured) and Chandler Gabrio gave the Beacons the early advantage in set three as they were ahead 7-5. Then, SOU's Paulla Pinheiro was in on three straight points with two kills and a block to give the Raiders the lead. Southern Oregon continued to hold serve leading by as many as five points as they established a 20-16 advantage.
 
The Beacons, however, refused to make things easy on the visitors, rattling off four straight points to tie the game. The teams traded points and were again knotted at 22-22, but SOU closed things out strong, finally finishing the match on another Atanda kill.
 
The Raiders (17-3, 11-1 CCC) were led by Atanda, finishing with 14 kills. Pinheiro added 13 kills and nine digs while Emma Gasman posted a team-high four blocks. Brookelynn Cole led all players with 17 digs and Lauren McGowne posted a match-high 35 assists.
 
NCU (7-10, 4-9 CCC) was led by Gabrio, finishing with a match-high 16 kills as she hit .263. She also chipped in three aces, three blocks, and seven digs. Sydney Rothenbush led the team with 16 digs and Cassidy Winters posted a team-high four blocks. Alyssa Dorr ended the afternoon with 31 assists.
 
The Beacons will be back in action on Friday night when they play host to Corban University at 7 p.m. Southern Oregon, who moved into a first-place tie in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, will also be at home, playing host to Evergreen on Friday at 7 p.m.