EUGENE, Ore. – A Friday night Cascade Collegiate Conference classic took place at the Morse Event Center as Northwest University and Northwest Christian traded blow for blow before the Eagles prevailed with a five-set victory, 19-25, 25-23, 29-27, 21-25, 15-13.
 
The combatants fought through 25 ties and 13 separate lead changes throughout the night. NCU held leads in all three of the sets that they lost, including a 21-16 advantage late in the extra-point third set, a heartbreaking defeat after NCU owned set-point twice before the Eagles put it away.
 
Swinging the ball a combined 424 times, Northwest (13-9, 9-4 CCC) ended the night with 66 kills and a .178 attack percentage, leading the match in both categories. The Eagles also won the blocking battle, 12-10, including a dominant net-protecting night from Audrey Saelens, collecting nine blocks.
 
NCU's calling card was the service line where they collected 13 kills while committing just one receiving error on the night. Kayla Olson collected four aces while Haley Meili and Megan Van Marter each had three.  
 
The Eagles had four players reach double-digs for kills. Keann White hit .311 with a team-leading 19 kills, adding four blocks. Sarah Warner posted a double-double with 16 kills and 22 digs. Hannah Lord contributed 11 kills and Saelens added 10 kills to her impressive blocking numbers. Courteney Carr recorded a match-high 44 assists and completed the double-double with 16 digs.
 
Claire Salness (pictured) was a dominant force for the home team, posting a match-high 21 kills, along with 17 digs. Van Marter posted 12 kills and led the team with eight blocks including two solo efforts. Six different players reached double-digits for digs, led by a match-high 25 from Olson. Makenna Northern added 16 and led the team with 28 assists and Meili also recorded a double-double with 17 assists and 13 digs.
 
The Beacons (7-12, 2-10) will be back in action on Saturday, playing host to Evergreen at 5:00 pm. Northwest will also start at 5:00 pm as they will be in Salem to take on Corban University.