GEORGE FOX 3, WILLAMETTE 1: Front Line Offense Fuels Bruins’ Win over Bearcats

SALEM, Ore. – Front-liners Isabel Valentine, Betsy Wilhelm, and Eliza Pledger combined for 42 kills and a .277 hitting percentage, leading the George Fox University Bruins to a 3-1 win (27-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21) over the Willamette University Bearcats in Northwest Conference women’s volleyball Saturday night here at the Cone Field House.

The first set could not have been tighter, with 17 ties, 10 lead changes, and no lead of more than three points.  George Fox held that margin at 19-16 after consecutive kills by Valentine.  Willamette had a chance to win it twice at 24-23 and 25-24, only to have Pledger rescue the Bruins with winners each time before kills by Kristin Knaupp and Valentine secured the visitors’ win.

The Bearcats had an early 11-7 lead in the second set, but the Bruins responded by running off seven straight points to take a 14-11 lead.  Kills by Wilhelm and Pledger and two combination blocks by Pledger and Stephanie Kerr fueled the rally.  Another four-point run gave the Bruins some breathing room, and Pledger ended the set with a kill.

In the third set, Willamette hit .275 as a team with 16 kills and held George Fox to a hitting percentage of .118. After early one-point deficits at 3-4 and 4-5, the Bearcats never trailed again, thought there were eight ties in the set. 

George Fox hit .279 with 19 kills in the fourth set.  After falling behind 3-2, the Bruins scored the next four points, two of them kills by Valentine, and never looked back.  The Bruins built five-point leads six times, the last at 19-14 after a Pledger kill.  Valentine’s winner at the end clinched the Bruins’ victory, which gained a measure of revenge for a 3-0 Bearcats’ sweep in Newberg back on Sept. 18.

Valentine led the Bruins with 15 kills and a .357 hitting percentage, Wilhelm had 14 kills, and Pledger finished with 13.  Ali Toedtemeier kept the hitters busy with 45 assists.  Patti Reeves made 20 digs and Wilhelm, Toedtemeier, and Chelsea Wilson had 10 each.  The Bruins had seven team blocks, Pledger contributing to all of them with two solo blocks and five block assists.

Molly Blankenship led a trio of Bearcats in double figures in kills with 13, with Madisyn Leenstra and Shannon Waltz adding 11 apiece, Waltz also hitting .400.  Emily Compton had 43 assists and 13 digs, while Elizabeth Baldin had 14 digs.  Carly Hargrave assisted on four of the team’s 7.5 blocks.

NEXT:  George Fox (8-12, NWC 3-7) hosts Whitman College Friday at 7:00 p.m. ... Willamette (7-12, NWC 3-7) travels to Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., Friday at 7:00 p.m.