Box Score

WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Snapping a 20-match losing streak, the Whitman College Missionaries picked up their first win of the 2008 women's volleyball season with a come-from-behind 3-2 win (26-24, 14-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-9) over the George Fox University Bruins Saturday evening here at the Sherwood Center.

Whitman tallied the final four points of the opening set to go up 1-0, but George Fox knocked off the next two games to take a 2-1 lead.  In set two, the Bruin jumped to a quick 3-0 lead and never trailed, built it to 9-3, and remained comfortably ahead the rest of the way. 

The Bruins broke a 9-9 tie in the third set with a 10-2 run, capped by a pair of Sarah Crossfield kills, for a 19-11 lead, only to have the Missionaries rally to within a point at at 20-19.  From there on, the teams traded points until George Fox secured the two-point win on a kill by Crossfield.

The Missionaries led for much of game four, grabbing leads of 11-7 and 16-12.  After the Bruins closed within two at 16-14 on an Ashlie Keimig kill, Whitman notched the next six points to pull away and regain the momentum. Katie Miller was at the center of the onslaught, following a kill with three service aces later in the run. The home team finished off the set with an Alex Graves kill and a Katie Richards ace.

Kills by Breanne Robirds and Miller helped Whitman to a 4-1 lead in game five, but Lyndsay Hovee countered with two kills as George Fox evened the slate at 4-4. Two more kills from Miller, and one apiece from Graves and Brice, had the Missionaries in charge at 10-5. George Fox made a final run, getting kills from Natalie Pickett to twice close the gap to two points at 10-8 and 11-9.  Graves and Emily Nickels responded with back-to-back kills for a 13-9 lead, and after a George Fox attack error, Graves wrapped up the set, match and victory with her 17th kill of the night.

Crossfield and Jennifer Panico paced George Fox with 10 and nine kills respectively.  Panico and Jenna Dohren each collected 23 digs, while Ali Lefebvre added 10.  Lefebvre also had 25 assists and Lani Rasmussen 19.    

Graves led Whitman with a match-high 17 kills and 20 digs, while Miller had 14 kills to go along with 17 digs and three service aces.  Robirds had nine kills with 12 digs, and Kelsie Butts rounded out Whitman's defensive effort with 21 digs.  Richards handed out 42 assists and served four aces.

George Fox (11-11, NWC 5-7), which has dropped three in a row, continues on the road Friday with a visit to Linfield College for a 7:00 p.m. match.  Whitman (1-20, NWC 1-11) goes to Pacific Lutheran University Friday, also at 7:00 p.m.