EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University volleyball team matched a season-high with 11 blocks including eight from junior Cassidy Winters but the Beacons fell in four sets on Saturday to Northwest University, 25-20, 27-25, 13-25, 25-18.
 
A pair of tightly contested sets found NU on the right side both times, holding a 2-0 lead. The Beacons, however, came out strong after the game break with a dominating third set. 13 kills, five blocks and three aces set the tone as NCU held the Eagles to just five kills and a negative hitting percentage to cruise to the 12-point win.
 
Everything that went right during the third set seemed to go wrong in the fourth as NCU committed ten unforced errors and never found a groove. Northwest ended up rolling to the decisive win behind 13 kills.
 
The Eagles (15-8, 11-6 CCC) were led by Sydney Schlect with 13 kills and the teams only service ace. Amanda Waterman added a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs to go along with three blocks. Mattie Jo Johnson led the team with five blocks and collected eight kills while Hannah Hanson also posted eight kills without an error for a match-high .533 attack percentage.
 
Also picking up a double-double for the visitors was Morgan Pilon with a match-high 39 assists along with 14 digs. Emmaline Stockton led all players with 21 digs.
 
NCU (13-10, 6-10) was led once again by senior Chandler Gabrio who continued an impressive string of matches with 13 kills, hitting .440 with three blocks. Taylor Burnett added ten kills, nine digs and five blocks and Winters finished with nine kills to go with her eight blocks (two solo). Marsha Poischbeg assisted on 33 kills and Kayla Ping ended the night with a team-high 17 digs. Haley Damian added 16 digs as well.
 
Northwest Christian hits the road for their final away games of the season next weekend. They will be at Warner Pacific on Friday night at 7:00 pm and then at Multnomah at 5:00 pm on Halloween.
 
Northwest has a non-conference match on Tuesday, traveling to Lacey to take on St. Martins at 7:00 pm before traveling to College Place on Saturday to face Walla Walla University at 6:45 pm.