EUGENE, Ore. – The No. 13-ranked College of Idaho volleyball team gritted-out a five-set victory over Northwest Christian on Friday, 25-16, 23-25, 25-18, 20-25, 15-13 in a CCC matchup.
 
College of Idaho (21-4, 13-4 CCC) held a 60-51 edge in kills over the home side, hitting .190 to NCUs' .164. Junior Taylor Alexander led the Yotes scoring attack hitting .282 en-route to a game-high 16 kills.
 
CI cruised to victory in the first set, holding the Beacons to an attack percentage of .028 while downing 15 kills. The second saw a role reversal, with the Beacons hitting .220 and the Yotes just 0.082. College of Idaho picked-up again in the third, rattling-off two five-point runs and finishing the set with just three attack errors.
 
NCU rode the support of their home-crowd in the fourth, gaining the edge on multiple long-rallied scoring efforts.
 
The fifth looked as if the Yotes were going to wrap-it-up easily, jumping out to an early 7-1 lead. The Beacons battled-back to within one before CI sealed the victory on a kill from Ashley Pagan.
 
Pagan was one of two Yotes with double-doubles, scooping 24 digs with 13 kills. Setter Marija Djonovic was the other, amassing 49 assists to go along with 13 digs and six kills. Alaina Slater and Miah Perez each topped ten kills for CI with 11 and ten respectively. Kilee Lopez had a match-best 26 digs.
 
Maci Beierle had a monster game for NCU (15-7, 10-7). The senior Setter collected 44 assists and 22 digs for just the seventh 20-20 game in school history, and the first since 2014. Beierle also led the team with three blocks and contributed four kills.
 
Claire Salness also scored a double-double for the Beacons, notching 17 digs to go along with her team-high 14 kills. Junior transfer Megan Van Marter had an error-free 11 kills on .393 hitting for NCU. Natalie Downes and Keri Schwarz each had nine kills.
 
Haley Damian was one of three back-row Beacons with 15-plus digs, amassing 22. Sydney Rothenbush and Claire Salness were the other two, notching 18 and 17.

Both teams are back in action tomorrow against top-25 teams. NCU hosts No. 11 Eastern Oregon while CI travels north to take on the No. 15 Corban Warriors.