EUGENE, Ore. – The NCU volleyball team was swept by their CCC rivals on Tuesday night for the first time in over five years, falling to Corban University 25-19, 25-19, 25-19.
 
The Beacons did not play poorly, hitting .236, they were just unable to get over the hump in any of the three closely contested sets. Additionally, the NCU defense couldn't come up with any answers for the Warrior duo of Amber Parker and Victory Schroeder, combining for 34 kills as Corban hit .385 in the match.
 
Head Coach Kelly Pitre said, "We need to be disciplined on defense and we need to play smarter on offense. We haven't been earning our points, putting us in a position where we needed to rely on the errors of our opponents and right now the teams we are facing are making little-to-no errors."
 
NCU (7-5, 5-0 CCC) was led by junior Cassidy Winters (pictured), hitting .438 with nine kills. Winters did not have an attack error until late in the third set. "Cass was our go-to hitter tonight," said Pitre. "She have been working hard in practice and in matches and it paid off tonight."
 
Senior Chandler Gabrio posted a team-high ten kills and two blocks and Haley Damian led the team with 11 digs and two service aces. Laurie Salness contributed 22 assists. Taylor Burnett added eight kills while Danielle Willyard had six, hitting .625 with just one error.
 
Corban (4-7, 2-3 CCC) was led by Parker's 20 kills as she saw nearly half of the total swings by the Warriors. Schroeder posted 14 kills, hitting .500. Madison McLain led the match with 41 assists while Hannah Olson posted three solo blocks.
 
The Beacons will look to respond on Thursday night as they return home to face Walla Walla University at 7 p.m. The Wolves (5-3, 1-3 CCC) are beginning their first year as a member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference. NCU has won nine straight matches in the series, dating back to 2007, with WWU taking just one set off the Beacons during that time.