NEWBERG, Ore. - Trailing 12-9 in the fifth and deciding game, the George Fox University Bruins battled back to escape a valiant bid by Willamette University to end its long losing streak in Northwest Conference play with a 3-2 win (30-32, 30-17, 27-30, 30-26, 17-15) over the Bearcats in women's volleyball action Friday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

Game one was tight throughout, with 12 ties and neither team with a larger lead than three points. Down 30-29, the Bearcats rallied for the win on kills by Kelly Lindstrom and Jordyn Smith and a block by Lindstrom and Christina McGilvray.

George Fox had its hitting shoes on in game two, smacking 15 kills with only two errors for a .394 percentage while limiting Willamette to .000 (11 kills, 11 errors). The game was still close at 11-9 Bruins when back-to-back kills by Whitney Kolb sparked the home team to a closing run of 19-8, evening the match.

Willamette took an early 6-2 lead in game three before Megan Cornelius served six straight winning points for a 9-6 George Fox lead. The Bruins led 17-12 when Jessica Durham served six winning points in a row, giving the Bearcats a 19-17 lead. They did not trail again, although the Bruins tied it three more times. Holding a 28-27 lead, the Bearcats went up two games to one when Julie Stutzman and Lindstrom put away the last two winners.

The fourth game was another close one featuring eight ties, the last at 19-19. A kill by Elizabeth Anderson broke the deadlock for the Bruins, who went up by four at 24-20 on a Willamette attack error. The Bearcats twice closed within one point before the game ended on a bad set and an attack error by the visitors.

After a brief 1-0 deficit, Willamette took the lead and controlled the first half of the final game, three times taking three-point leads. Down 12-9, the Bruins tied it on a solo block by Anderson and consecutive assisted blocks by Sarah Crossfield and Natalie Pickett. Another block by Crossfield and Pickett gave the Bruins a 14-13 lead, but Cornelius was called for a service error when she tossed the ball up and then let it drop at an official's whistle, evening the game at 14-14. The teams traded points on a Bearcat service error and a Bruin attack error, but the Bruins pulled out the cliffhanger with a kill by Jennifer Panico and a final block by Anderson and Amy Batchelder.

Anderson led the Bruins, who hit .204, with a match-high 19 kills, while Pickett added 15, Kolb 12, Jessica Morrison 11, and Panico 10. Batchelder had 60 assists. Five Bruins also had double figures in digs, led by Batchelder with 26, while Panico had 21, Sarah Burkey 18, Cornelius 17, and Jenna Dohren 15. The Bruins had 16 blocks, with Pickett in on nine, Anderson six, and Morrison five.

Stutzman topped the Bearcats, who hit .119, with 18 kills, and Durham and Lindstrom had 16 apiece. Brittany Ashby passed out 58 assists. Clare Chedester had a match-high 27 digs, Christine Dion added 21, Edyth Lee-Barnes had 18, and Durham 17. The Bearcats had 11 blocks, Stutzman assisting on eight of them.

The Bearcats entered the match with 31 consecutive losses in conference play, and the Bruins extended that to 32 straight - but barely. George Fox improved to 8-5 overall and evened its NWC record at 3-3, while Willamette fell to 2-11 overall and 0-5 in the league.

The Bruins visit the University of Puget Sound next Friday at 7:00 p.m. The Bearcats play at Lewis & Clark College Saturday, also at 7:00 p.m.