LEWISTON, Idaho  – It was a pair of epic battles but when the dust settled, No. 13 Corban University had taken a pair of victories from RV Bushnell University on Saturday in the second day of the opening Cascade Collegiate Conference pod hosted by Lewis-Clark State.
 
The Beacons held leads in all seven sets, and eventually won the second set of the afternoon match, but an efficient attack led Corban to their third and fourth victories of the weekend.  
 
Head Coach Jason Corwin said, "I am really proud of the girls on and off the court this weekend. We played some really competitive volleyball and the bench made such a huge impact. We received multiple compliments about our actions off the court as well.
 
"Corban is a good team. We will get better these next two weeks to prepare for another challenging weekend of really good CCC volleyball."
 
MATCH ONE (25-21, 25-21, 27-25)
 
Corban hit .204 in the opener while holding the Beacons to a season-low .105. The Warriors were led by Cassie Cunningham, hitting .355 with 12 kills and just one error. Avari Ridgway added 10 kills and 14 digs and Kealani Ontai led all players with 32 digs.
 
Payton Jones hit .333 for the Beacons and had five kills, along with a season-best six blocks as the Beacons out-blocked Corban, 9-6. The outside duo of Camille Guerrero and Cambria Lingenfelder combined for 14 kills and 27 digs and Callie Wilkins supplied a team-leading 21 digs. Makenna Northern collected 28 assists.
 
MATCH TWO (25-21, 17-25, 25-19, 25-22)
 
Each team recorded 12 blocks and had over 90 digs apiece in a defensive minded second match. For the Beacons, Natalie Martin led the Beacons with a career-high 9 blocks, missing the Bushnell single-match record by one.
 
Claire Salness led the offensive effort with a match-high 16 kills, adding 13 digs and four blocks of her own. The senior said, "The matches against corban were competitive and a lot of great volleyball. It was tough to lose but we were always right there with them and had the ability to take more sets off them. I think we played smart and always had the effort."
 
Jessica Northcutt added nine kills and three blocks while Martin posted seven kills. Jones and Shay Coons owned six kills apiece. Wilkins led all players with 29 digs and Northern again owned the match-high with 43 assists, along with 11 digs.
 
Ridgeway led Corban's attack with 13 kills and 22 digs while Cora Pelleberg led all players with 11 blocks. Ontai added 28 digs while Cunningham posted 11 kills.
 
 
Bushnell (5-2, 2-2 CCC) will return to action next Friday night as they head up to Newberg to take on George Fox University in a non-conference tilt. The following week will be another CCC pod as the team goes to Caldwell, Idaho to face both The College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon University.