NEWBERG, Ore. -- After a hard-fought loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor, the George Fox women's volleyball team went against the Multnomah Lions, winning 3-1 after four riveting sets.

How It Happened - Mary Hardin-Baylor
The Bruins started off with a first-set thriller against the Crusaders, with kills from Addison Robertson and Jenna Knibbs to get the party started. The two teams stayed within two points of each other for the first 13 points before Mary Hardin-Baylor jumped out to a 15-11 lead. 

The Crusaders expanded their advantage to 19-14 before the Bruins came storming back; four kills from the combo of Robertson, Gracie Bearden, and Allaire Gilder gave Fox a 24-22 lead. Though they came within a point, a four-pont push by the Crusaders tipped the scales in their direction, giving UMHB a 26-24 win.

Fox responded with fire, jumping out to an early four-point lead before turning on the jets midway through the set. The Bruins scored six straight points, taking advantage of a kill from libero Piper Hilgaertner and a block by Bearden and Breanna Babcock to take a 17-9 lead. A thunderous kill from Robertson got the Bruins back in the game with a 25-16 win in set two.

Though Fox led 12-10 in the early going of the set, the Crusaders responded in a similar way to the Bruins in the second set — going on a 12-1 run to win the third, 25-15. The fourth proved to be much more even, with the score knotted at 18 after a full set of back-and-forth action. Though the Bruins managed to tie up the game at 23 thanks to a Babcock kill, UMHB staved off the Fox attack with two crucial points to win another close one and take the match, 3-1.

How It Happened - Multnomah
The first set was back and forth, with Breanna Babcock giving the first kill. It was point-by-point for a while until Fox began to pull ahead thanks to two kills from setter Kennedy Kibby. Babcock put the exclamation point on the set with a solo block, as the Bruins took the set, 19-25.

The second set began with Babcock scoring the first Bruin point again, and continued similarly from the first set with Fox pulling ahead. A 6-1 run midway through the set and a 5-1 run to close gave Fox the solid victory, with Lexi Baer making the last kill—18-25, Bruins.

Fox stayed a couple points behind in the third, and eventually managed to climb ahead after kills from Babcock and Gracie Bearden. Though the Bruins were one tantalizing point away from the sweep — leading, 24-19 — they began to lose steam towards the end as Multnomah managed to fight back and take the set in dramatic fashion, 28-26.

The Bruins quickly proved that they had not run out of steam for the game, coming out hot with the first few points and a 9-4 lead. Fox kept a strong lead through the set thanks to kills from Robertson and Baer. Piper Hilgaertner put the finishing touching on the 25-13 set victory with a service ace to give the Bruins the game.
           
Top Performers
Addison Roberston and Lexi Baer lead George Fox's offensive positions with 11 kills each in the first game, while Kennedy Kibby and Addison Coulter led the way with 19 assists and 14 assists, respectively. Piper Hilgaertner had 19 digs on the defensive side.

The win over Multnomah saw similar stats — Roberston and Baer lead Fox on the attackagain, this time with 11 kills each, while Kibby completed the game with 30 assists. On defense, Hilgaertner had 18 digs, while Coulter finished with 13.

Coach's Thoughts
"Mary Hardin-Baylor had a really nice middle offense, and we didn't respond as soon as I would have liked," Bruin head coach Emily Davis said, "They were also very smart with their serving and kept us guessing on defense. I was proud of how our team fought hard and overall we will use it to learn and prepare for the conference. Playing Multnomah was tough because it was the fourth match of the weekend, but we fought through some fatigue and I was very proud of our passing. Our back row players kept us on the net and in-system most of the match. I am looking forward to getting reps this week to prepare for Minnesota."

What It Means
George Fox sits at 2-2 on the season and sits at second in the conference, while Multnomah is at 0-4 and Mary Hardin-Baylor is 4-0.

What Happens Next
The Bruins will journey to Minneapolis, Minnesota to face Augsburg on Friday, September 6th at 2:00 p.m. for game one of the Auggie Classic.