PARKLAND, Wash. – Throwing  a surprise roadblock in front of the University of Puget Sound's drive toward a possible Northwest Conference women's volleyball title, the George Fox University Bruins stunned the 24th-ranked Loggers 3-0 (25-11, 25-23, 25-21) Friday afternoon here at Pacific Lutheran University's Olson Auditorium.

The match was moved to Pacific Lutheran due to the national Race and Pedagogy Conference in UPS's Memorial Fieldhouse and was rescheduled for 4:00 in the afternoon.

The loss snapped Puget Sound's 10-game winning streak and dropped the Loggers (16-5, NWC 11-2) into a first-place tie with Whitworth University (14-6, NWC 11-2), a 3-0 winner at home over Pacific University.  For the Bruins (10-13, NWC 5-8), it was their first win over a nationally-ranked team since spanking 16th-ranked Pacific Lutheran 3-2 in Olson Auditorium on Sept. 20, 2008.

The Bruins put the pressure on early, hitting .345 while holding the Loggers to a .000 hitting percentage in coasting to the first-set win.  Sparked by three kills from Stephanie Kerr, the Bruins used an 8-0 run to build a quick 11-1 lead and never looked back.  The Bruins closed the set with a 7-0 run featuring two more kills by Kerr and two service aces by Patti Reeves, who served 13 winning points in the set.

Set two was a complete turnaround and a nail-biter all the way.  George Fox trailed only once, at 5-4 following a Stephanie O'Connor service ace, but never led by more than four, at 18-14 on a kill by Isabel Valentine.  A block by the Loggers' Brynn Blickenstaff and Molly Gibson at set point kept the Loggers alive at 24-23, but the Bruins went up 2-0 in sets when Kristin Knaupp connected for the winning spike.

George Fox led throughout the third set except for ties at 7-7 and 18-18.  The Bruins broke the final tie with four unanswered points on three kills by Valentine and an ace by Betsy Wilhelm, and finished off the upset with a winner by Cassie Irwin.

Valentine paced all hitters with 14 kills for the Bruins, hitting .385, and Kerr added 11 kills with a .308 percentage.  The Bruins hit .197 (42-18-122) to .116 (30-17-112) for the Loggers.  Ali Toedtemeier handed out 38 assists, her career high in a three-set match and her highest per-set average (12.67) ever.  Reeves led the defense with 22 digs, and Jenna Dohren added 11 as the Bruins held a 62-50 advantage in that category.

Natalie Munro led the Loggers with 10 kills while Erika Greene passed out 23 assists.  O'Connor had 11 digs, and Gibson was in on five the team's six blocks (one solo, four assists). 

NEXT:  George Fox is back at Olson Auditorium Saturday at 7:00 p.m. to take on Pacific Lutheran in the Bruins' last road game of the season ... Puget Sound hosts Lewis & Clark College at 7:00 p.m. in its final regular season home game of the year.