CALDWELL, Idaho. – The Northwest Christian University volleyball team broke through on Friday night, defeating The College of Idaho in the J.A. Albertson for the first time in school history. The Beacons swept the No. 23 Yotes 25-16, 25-21, 25-20.
 
NCU is now 2-23 all-time against CI with their only other victory coming at home in 2016. NCU had made 12 previous trips to the Yotes home court and had won just two sets, both coming last season in a dramatic five-set win for the home team. The Beacon were probably most excited about taking care of the match in straight sets on Friday as they have already played six tie-break sets on the season including at home against the Yotes.
 
Head Coach Jason Corwin said, "We had a solid performance tonight in all phases of the game. We served and passed well and kept ourselves in system all night. It was mentally tough maintaining our standard of play when C of I started pushing us, especially with how many times we've had to go five sets this year. I was very proud of our resiliency to put this one away."
 
NCU used a key 7-1 run in Set 1 to break open the set, as a stuff-block from ClaireSalness helped the visitors take a 20-12 lead.  The Beacons bolted to a 12-6 lead in Set 2, before the Yotes got a kill and an ace from Ashley Pagan to pull within 13-11. C of I was within 19-17, but a Cambria Lingenfelder ace and a combo-block fueled a 5-1 run that put the set away.

A 5-0 run early in Set 3 gave the visitors a 6-2 lead - an edge they would not surrender. C of I would cut the gap to two points on six occasions - the last at 22-20, before two NCU kills and an ace ended the match.
 
The Beacons (12-7, 4-6 CCC) characteristically posted an efficient hitting effort, collecting 35 kills and just 16 errors. Meanwhile, The College of Idaho (12-6, 7-4) hit just .060 and had 17 unforced attacking errors over the three sets. The visitors also held a 9-6 lead in team blocks and a strong 8-1 lead in service aces.
 
Makenna Northern, who ended the match with an ace, ran a strong offensive effort as she distributed at leads seven sets to six different hitters and had nine attempts herself. She ended the night with 28 assists, six digs and three blocks.
 
The blocking came from all rotations as Payton Jones owned six, Halle Neumann and Salness matched Northern with three apiece and Natalie Downes posted two.
 
Neumann led the offensive effort with nine kills while Salness added eight and Taylor Gould put down six. Lingenfelder led all players with three service aces and Kayla Olson added a team-high 14 digs along with two aces.
 
The Yotes were led in defeat by Jordyn Boswell, earning a match-high 14 kills on 29 swings along with four blocks. Jade Warren and Ashley Pagan added six kills each while Drew Dobney scored a match-high 17 digs.
 
Things will not get easier for either team on Saturday when they return to conference action as they will both face off against the Co-CCC leaders. The Yotes remain at home to face No. 7 Corban (13-4, 10-1) while the Beacons head to La Grande to take on No. 5 Eastern Oregon (20-1, 10-1). EOU knocked off the Warriors on Friday night in five sets.