PORTLAND, Ore. – Despite keeping things close throughout the match, the Northwest Christian University volleyball team never really got their legs under them offensively in a non-conference loss to Lewis & Clark College on Wednesday, falling in four sets, 25-22, 15-25, 25-23, 25-20.
 
NCU made the Pioneers work for every point in the first set and jumped into a 9-7 lead. A string of unforced errors, however, pushed the momentum back to Lewis & Clark who hung on for a three-point win.
 
The Pios kept things rolling in the second set, rattling off an early 6-0 lead. The Beacons were unshaken, climbing back to take a 10-9 lead. NCU steamrolled their way to a win, taking 15 of the final 21 points including the final nine. Cassidy Winters was in serve for the last streak, collecting four service aces during the spurt.
 
The final two sets played out as mirror images with the teams battling closely. Each time NCU jumped out to modest four point-leads and each time Lewis & Clark rallied to steal the set. NCU combined to hit a .000 percentage with 19 kills and 19 attack errors.
 
Defensively, Lewis & Clark was able to keep the Beacon hitters in check behind 11 total blocks and 22 digs from their Libero, Alexe Navarro. Head Coach Kelly Rosin said, "The libero for Lewis & Clark was everywhere tonight, making it impossible for us to get kills. She is a great player and made life difficult for our hitters."
 
The one player that the Pioneers seemed to have no answer for was senior middle blocker Chelsea McGowan (pictured), who hit .310 in the contest, collecting 12 kills up against just three attack errors. Kayla Ping added eight kills and Katie Reeder chipped in seven. Winters finished the night with seven kills, four aces and four blocks including two solo efforts.
 
Alyssa Dorr posted another double-double with 27 assists and 11 digs while Haley Damian tied for the match high with 22 digs. NCU combined for 11 service aces in the match including the four from Winters and two apiece from Reeder, Damian, and Rylee Houck.
 
"We are still seeing a lot of improvement," said Rosin. "We worked on quite a few changes this week and we saw that the players were implementing those changes and I think it will continue to help us grow."
 
Lewis & Clark (6-3) was led by Kataleya Milan with 13 kills. Ali Carleton and Isabel Valentine posted ten kills apiece and Tessa Belanger led all players with six blocks.
 
NCU has dropped three straight matches on the road and will look forward to coming home for their first CCC match in the Morse Event Center this season. Coach Rosin said, "We still need to fix some things that are hindering our momentum and our ability to close out sets. We can't rely on just one player to win a match. We need all of our players to show up to do their jobs and when that happens is when we play to the level that we know we can."
 
The Beacons will host Concordia University on Friday night at 7:00 pm before taking on Warner Pacific on Saturday at 5:00 pm.