Box Score

NEWBERG, Ore. - Down 9-6 in the fifth set, the George Fox University Bruins went on a 9-2 run to pull out a 3-2 victory (25-15, 28-26, 18-25, 22-25, 15-11) over the Willamette University Bearcats for their seventh straight win in Northwest Conference women's volleyball action Friday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

George Fox burst from the gates with a spectacular first set, hitting .391 with 12 kills and only three errors while holding Willamette to a .065 percentage.  The Bruins built a 10-4 lead on a kill by Stephanie Kerr before the Bearcats rallied within three at 10-7 on a winner by Julie Stutzman.  The Bruins regained control with a 5-0 run that included a service ace by Jennifer Panico, a kill by Eliza Pledger, and two spikes by Lyndsay Hovee for an 18-9 lead, and were not seriously threatened again.

Set two was tight throughout, with 14 ties and the largest lead being Willamette's early 3-0 advantage.  The Bruins had a chance to put the game away at 24-22, but the Bearcats got a kill from Danica Reed and a George Fox attack error to even the score 24-24.  The Bearcats twice took leads, on an ace by Annika Moffett and a kill by Reed, only to have the Bruins stay alive with a Hovee kill and a Willamette service error.  A Bearcat set error and a block by Kerr and Kaitlyn Maddams gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead in sets.

The Bearcats began their comeback by holding the Bruins to a negative hitting percentage of -.027 in the third set.  Three Bruin attack errors and one bad set enabled the Bearcats to forge an early 5-1 lead , but the Bruins battled back to a 12-12 tie on a block by Pledger and Crossfield.  Josephine Johnston then broke the tie with a kill that started a 5-0 Bearcat run, and they later scored four unanswered points before closing out the set on a kill by Stutzman.

Willamette took an 11-7 lead in the fourth set, only to have the Bruins come back to take a 13-11 lead with Ali Toedtemeier serving.  Betsy Wilhelm led the 6-0 run with a pair of kills.  The set was nip-and-tuck the rest of the way until Jessie McGraw snapped a 20-20 deadlock with a spike, and Jaci Abeloe had kills for the Bearcats' final two points that evened the match at two sets apiece.

An ace by Kellie Menghini and two Bruin attack errors gave the Bearcats an early 4-1 lead in the final set, and they had three-point leads four more times, the last at 9-6, before the Bruins rallied.  A kill by Pledger and two Bearcat offensive errors evened the score at 9-9.  McGraw and Abeloe sandwiched kills for Willamette around one by Panico for George Fox, giving the Bearcats an 11-10 lead.  The Bruins got the serve back on a Bearcats service error, then reeled off four straight points on two kills by Hovee around a block by Hovee and Maddams, and a match-ending set error.

Hovee led the Bruins with 13 kills, Kerr had 11, and Pledger had 10 with no errors in 19 attempts for a.526 percentage.  Toedtemeier passed out 30 assists and Lani Rasmussen added 16.  Carley Johnson led the defense with 19 digs, Hovee had 18, and Panico made 12.  The Bruins had 12 blocks in the match, all assisted, with Maddams in on nine blocks and Kerr on six. 

Abeloe paced the Bearcats with 14 kills, McGraw added 12, and Stutzman had 11.  Brigit Miller made 50 assists.  McGraw made a match-high 24 digs, Menghini had 16, and Reed and Moffett made 10 each.  Johnston contributed to six of the Bearcats' nine blocks and McGraw to five.

George Fox (12-3, NWC 5-2) visits the 22nd-ranked University of Puget Sound while Willamette (5-10, NWC 2-5) goes to 17th-ranked and league-leading Pacific Lutheran University Saturday, both matches starting at 7:00 p.m.