EUGENE, Ore. – The Jason Corwin era began on a strong note on Wednesday as the NCU volleyball team opened the 2018 season with two victories at the William Jessup Tournament.
 
The Beacons began the day with a 3-1 victory over the University of Antelope Valley and closed out the night with a sweep of Simpson University.
 
NCU d. Antelope Valley (25-16, 25-21, 24-26, 25-10)
 
The Beacons looked impressive early against Antelope Valley, rolling through the first two sets, and nearly put it away at the end of the third. Antelope Valley, however, fought through four straight match-points for NCU to take the third.
 
NCU made a statement in the fourth set, going ahead 7-1 and later posting a 9-0 run on the serve of freshman Makenna Northern to take an 18-5 lead before going on to the victory. Coach Corwin said, "It was the first match of the season and I think we did a good job of going out there and working hard and starting to discover who we are. We played some scrappy defense and started to figure out how we want to block. UAV did a good job challenging us and did a good job pulling out some great performances from our players."
 
Northern had an impressive collegiate debut for the Beacons, leading the team with 18 assists while adding two of the team's 12 service aces. Sophomore Mary Grace Blaser also had a breakthrough game, besting her freshman season totals with seven kills, 12 digs and two aces.
 
Sophomore Claire Salness was the big hitter on the day, posting 13 kills and 15 digs for a double-double. Junior Kayla Olson led all players with 20 digs.
 
NCU d. Simpson (25-17, 25-18, 25-20)
 
The Beacons turned their second contest into a block party, collecting nine roofs as they rolled to a sweep of Simpson University. The team made a strong offensive statement as well, scoring 16 of their 25 first-set points on kills while committing just three attack errors.
 
"We found a pretty good rhythm and we were able to attack multiple zones at different tempos," said Corwin. "Our middles started to get going. Megan Van Marter in particular had 10 kills without any errors on the day and filled up the box score. Natalie did a great job in the middle and our setting continues to be solid."
 
NCU finished the match hitting .293, including a .500 night from senior Laurie Salness who collected ten kills. Junior transfer Katie Allen also collected ten kills. Natalie Downes was busy at the net, having a hand in four of NCU's nine blocks including three solo efforts.
 
Haley Meili secured a match-high 16 assists and Olson once again led all players with 15 digs. Olson added three service aces as well.
 
The Beacons will return to action with two more games in the William Jessup Tournament on Thursday. At 1:00 pm they face the tourney hosts (2-0), followed immediately by a 3:00 pm game against Pacific Union (0-1).