SALEM, Ore. – Hoping to finish the season tied for fourth in the Northwest Conference, the George Fox University Bruins instead went the other way and wound up tied for fifth in the final women's volleyball league standings after dropping a 3-1 decision to the Willamette University Bearcats Saturday night here at the Cone Field House.

The Bruins, who lost their final four matches, and the Bearcats finished the 2012 campaign with identical records of 9-14 overall and 7-9 in the conference.  Fourth place went to Whitman College, which locked up that place anyway with a 3-0 win at Pacific University to finish 11-12 overall and 9-7 in the league.

In the first set, Willamette built an early 5-1 lead on back-to-back kills by Carly Hargrave and Madisyn Leenstra, but the Bruins rallied with a 9-4 run, taking their only lead at 10-9 on a kill by Lucy Capron.  The Bearcats responded with six unanswered points, including two spikes by Leenstra, to regain the lead at 15-10, and they never trailed again.  Twice they led by as many as eight, the last at 24-16 following a Danica Reed kill, before the set ended with a Bruin service error.

The Bruins held the Bearcats to a minus -.026 hitting percentage in evening the match with a second-set win.  Kills by Tiffany Burk, Capron, Erin Campbell, and a rare winner by libero Chelsea Wilson helped the Bruins build a 5-2 lead and they never looked back.  Their largest lead was only six points at 18-12 after a Willamette attack error, but the Bearcats were unable to mount any run longer than three points as the Bruins answered every challenge.  A winner by Kylee Adderson closed out the set.

Willamette rebounded from its poor offensive performance in the second set to hit over .200 in each of the next two.   George Fox maintained a slim lead through the first half of the third set, and was still up 14-13 after a kill by Burk when the Bearcats exploded.  Kills by Kirsten Brehmer and Reed gave the home team the lead, Kathy Lee Glenn added a service ace, and the Bruins made three straight hitting errors to give the Bearcats a 19-14 lead.  The margin reached seven twice, the last at 24-17 on a Leenstra winner, before Leenstra and Hargrave teamed up for a block to clinch the set.

In the finale, the Bearcats took a quick 6-0 lead on three Leenstra kills, then extended it to 10-1 on a Leenstra ace.  The Bruins crawled back within four points at 16-12 on a winner by Capron before the Bearcats pulled away again, eventually securing the match when the Bruins made three straight attack errors at the end of the set.  The Bearcats held the Bruins to a minus -.022 hitting percentage in the set.

Capron topped the Bruins with 13 kills and Burk added 10, while Payton Shrum handed out 38 assists.  Their final hitting percentage was only .065 (45-33-184).  Wilson led the defense with 31 digs and ended the season with an average of 5.80 digs per set, the second-best mark in a George Fox season to Patti Reeves' 5.88 in 2010.  Capron chipped in with 19 digs and Campbell had 17.  The Bruins recorded 10 blocks, with Adderson in on five (two solo) and Burk on four (one solo). 

Willamette got a match-high 17 kills and 22 digs from Reed, with Leenstra adding 13 winners.  Emily Compton passed out 37 assists for the Bearcats, who hit .158 (49-23-165) overall.  Glenn contributed 17 digs and Compton 15.  As a team, the Bearcats had 12 blocks, with Hargrave in on 10 (one solo) and Compton on four.