EUGENE, Ore.  – Competing in their first-ever home playoff game, the Bushnell volleyball team collected 11 service aces on their way to a three-set sweep of Northwest University on Tuesday, 25-9, 25-18, 25-21.
 
The No. 23 Beacons improve to 21-6 on the year, setting a new season record for victories, eclipsing the 20-wins in 2019. Northwest finishes the season at 13-15. The victory also avenges one of just two home losses on the season as NU defeated the Beacons in five sets on October 29.
 
"We knew Northwest had a lot of confidence from the last time we played them," said junior Payton Jones, "but we weren't gong to let that stop us from showing up. We used that to our advantage and played with high energy for the entire match. It feels great to continue pushing ourselves and get another opportunity to show what we can do!"
 
A close early first set quickly turned into a blowout when junior Makenna Northern took serve with an 8-6 lead. The Beacons proceeded to win the next ten points and finished the match on a 17-3 run that included four aces (three from Northern) and three blocks. Bushnell allowed just three kills while forcing 12 Eagle attack errors to set the tone for the sweep.
 
Head Coach Jason Corwin said, "We knew we needed to maintain service pressure on Northwest to keep their hitters out of rhythm. We understood the assignment! Serve and pass game was on point and our block and defense was solid. This was a good win against a good team that was playing hot."
 
Northern finished the night with five aces for the Beacons, adding five digs and a team-leading 24 assists. "We played well tonight," said the junior. "We had a plan to serve tough and pass well and we achieved our goal."
 
The Bushnell offense hit a respectable .217 and was led by Camille Guerrero and Shay Coons with nine kills each. Coons also had four of the team's service aces. She said, "We came into tonight wanting to keep the game simple. We executed that plan and it paid off. The energy on the court, from the bench, and from the crowd kept us going. I was really proud of our team tonight."
 
Jones added five kills for the Beacons, including a few monster slams in the third set, while fellow middle Sierra Jenkins led all players with six blocks as Bushnell out-blocked the Eagles, 7-5. Callie Wilkins ended the night with a team-leading 12 digs.
 
The fourth-seeded Beacons move on to the CCC semifinals on Friday night, where they will take on No. 1 seed and regular-season champion Corban University at 7:00 pm. The other semifinal will feature No. 2 seed Eastern Oregon against No. 3 seed Oregon Tech, also hosted by Corban.