NEWBERG, Ore. – Tiffany Burk posted a career-high 20 kills and made seven blocks and Erin Campbell added 18 kills, leading the George Fox University Bruins to a 3-1 win (17-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-20) over the Willamette University Bearcats in Northwest Conference women's volleyball here Saturday night at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

The Bearcats hit a sizzling .294 (12-2-34) in the opening set while holding the Bruins to a negative -.024 (10-11-42).  The Bruins scored the first four points with kills by Burk, Campbell and Cassie Irwin included, but the Bearcats got back in it with five straight points of their own, two kills by Madisyn Leenstra, last week's NWC Player of the Week, leading the way.  There were six ties thereafter, the last at 13-13, before the Bearcats took the lead for good with back-to-back winners by Leenstra.  A combo block by Shannon Waltz and Danica Reed gave the visitors their largest lead and ended the match at the same time.

The Bruins bounced back in the second set by hitting .250 (16-6-40) to .167 (11-4-42) for the Bearcats.  The first half of the set was close throughout, with seven ties, the final one after a kill by Campbell lifting the Bruins into a 15-15 deadlock.  The Bearcats coughed up the lead by making a ball handling error, a hitting error, and a bad set, and the Bruins took it from there with a final 7-4 run featuring two kills each by Campbell and Burk.

George Fox did its best hitting in the third set with a .306 mark (15-4-36), but the Bearcats hung in with a .231 percentage (14-5-39).  There were 10 ties in this one, the last one at 14-14 following a Carly Hargrave kill for Willamette.  Burk put the Bruins ahead with a kill, but the Bearcats refused to go away and were within one at 21-20 after a block by Mandara Hogarth.  However, the Bruins reeled off four in a row to seal the set, closing with a service ace by Lucy Capron and two Campbell kills.

In the final set, the Bruins limited the Bearcats to their lowest attack percentage of the night (.068) while hitting .163 themselves.  The Bruins used a 4-0 run, featuring a block by Burk and two kills by Campbell, to take a 6-2 lead, and never trailed again.  Four times the Bearcats closed within one, but the Bruins held them off each time and eventually built a six-point lead of 23-17 after a solo block by Burk.  A Willamette service error closed out the match.

Burk, who hit .421 (20-4-38), and Campbell were joined in the Bruins' offensive assault by Capron with 12 kills, and Payton Shrum handed out 48 assists.  Chelsea Wilson led the defense with 26 digs, followed by Campbell with 14, Capron with 13, Shrum with 12, and Irwin with 10. 

Hargrave and Leenstra paced the Bearcats with 15 and 11 kills respectively, and Emily Compton passed out 39 assists.  Kathy Lee Glenn made 19 digs and Leenstra added 15.  Waltz was in on seven of Willamette's 12 team blocks, with one solo and six assists, and Reed had four block assists.

NEXT: George Fox (7-8, NWC 5-3) visits Lewis & Clark College Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. ... Willamette (4-11, NWC 2-6) hosts Linfield College Friday at 7:00 p.m.