EUGENE, Ore. – Northwest Christian University dropped their fourth straight match on Saturday, falling to No. 8 Eastern Oregon University in straight sets, 25-19, 25-21, 25-23.
 
The Beacons are still winless in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, but by the way they fought with Eastern Oregon on Saturday, there is no doubt that a breakthrough is on the horizon. The defensive effort never let EOU too far out of their sights with each the Mountie lead never growing to more than five points. The offense also had a productive day, pushing the Beacons to a 4-1 lead to open the third set.


Head Coach Kelly Pitre said, "I am happy we were able to come out and not give up the big runs like we did against College of Idaho last night and last weekend as well. We were able to take a lot of positives out of this match. The girls came out and battled and we stayed steady and consistent."
 
The Beacons were led by junior Taylor Burnett (pictured) who hit .423 with 12 kills and eight digs.  Setters Laurie Salness and Marsha Poischbeg contributed eleven assists a piece while Chandler Gabrio and Carissa Allen each posted a pair of blocks.
 
Defensively, the Beacons out-dug EOU, 45-50 led by 13 digs from Hailey Damian. The serve receive only gave the Mounties three service Aces while the NCU servers pounded out nine aces on their side. Gabrio led the way in that category as well, collecting six aces.
 
"Our defense and our serve receive was very strong tonight and our serving really kept them out of system," said Pitre. "Our blocking was much better tonight which slowed the balls down for our back row."
 
Eastern Oregon (9-1, 4-0 CCC) was led by Kendra De Hoog with a match-best 14 kills, hitting .370. As a team the Mounties hit .239 with just 16 attack errors. Rachelle Chamberlain led all players with 31 assists while Emily Nay collected nine kills and a match-high seven blocks.
 
The Beacons (7-4, 0-4 CCC) will look to get back into the win column on Tuesday when they face off with Corban University. The Warriors are 1-3 in the CCC after upsetting The College of Idaho in four sets on Saturday.