EUGENE, Ore.  – Lasting over two hours, the Bushnell volleyball team emerged victorious from their five five-set match of the season, claiming a 25-14, 21-25, 15-25, 25-21, 16-14 win over Evergreen on Friday night. Junior setter Makenna Northern tied her own school record with 58 assists in the match.
 
Bushnell got off to a blistering start to the night and looked to be in complete control as they hit .519 with 16 kills in the opening set. The ideas of a rout were quickly disrupted, however, in the second set as the Geoducks forced 15 errors and started to establish a presence at the net. A nearly flawless set three for the home team left the Beacons playing from behind.
 
With their backs against the wall, the Beacons responded with a win in the fourth set, and never trailed in an offense-heavy fifth set that saw the teams combine for 23 kills and just five errors. Tied at 14-14, and having just tied her record with her 58th assist on a Camille Guerrero kill, Northern did what she did best, picking the perfect spot for a sneak attack, garnering the go-ahead kill on her own before an attack error for the Geoducks to end the match.
 
Head Coach Jason Corwin said, "We showed some grit tonight. Evergreen really responded after that first set, they blocked us very well and it really energized them. I appreciate our teams calm response going into that fourth set, facing a home team playing with confidence."
 
Northern said, "We went into this match ready to play a tough team. The team that showed up to play was even better than we expected. They played scrappy and hit hard and wanted to win just as bad as we did. In the end it came down to who could get the ball down. We have never won here since I have been in college so it was nice to break that trend."
 
The Beacons improve to 10-2 on the season, including a 6-2 mark in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, leaving them alone in third-place. Bushnell is off to their best start in school history, breaking a 9-3 mark that opened the 2013 campaign. Tonight was also the first win for the Beacons in Olympia since 2015 and sent Evergreen to 5-4 overall, 5-3 in conference.  
 
As is typical for a drawn out five-setter, the stat lines were impressive across the board for the Beacons, who held advantages over ESC in kills (67-53) and service aces (2-0). Evergreen out-dug the Beacons 61-58 and held a 12-7 margin on the block.
 
Shay Coons had a huge night on offense, posting a career-high 22 kills. It was the highest single-match total for a Bushnell player in seven years, and ranks fourth all-time. Payton Jones added 11 kills. "Tonight was the first time this season that we had a chance to show our resiliency," said Jones. "There were plenty of ups and downs but we pushed through and kept our heads high so we could come out on top."
 
Callie Wilkins added a team-leading 20 digs and Matty Ladd had a piece of four Bushnell blocks and hit .429 with seven kills.
 
Bushnell will return to action on Saturday, traveling to Kirkland to take on Northwest (5-8, 4-4), looking to keep pace toward the top of the standings. "We problem-solved our way to start scoring points tonight and it feels good to beat a good team on the road," said Corwin. "We will work on a few things at tomorrow's practice and get ready for a well-coached Northwest team."