SALEM, Ore. -- The George Fox women's volleyball team traveled to face the Willamette Bearcats in a NWC matchup, sweeping the Bearcats in three sets after a six-point comeback to win the third and final set.

How It Happened
The first set was as close as it could get through the first eleven points – no team led by more than three, the Bruins by 7-4, before eventually the score was 11-11. Fox surged, going on a 4-1 run that featured kills by Lexi Baer and Addison Robertson that took the Bruins to a 16-12 lead, the largest lead of the set so far. Willamette followed with a mini-run that cut the Bruins lead to 16-15, but another kill by Robertson started another run that brought the lead back up to four, 19-15. The Bruins needed one last 4-2 surge to break away from the resilient Bearcats (who had battled back to down a point, 20-19), to put away the first set, 25-21, ending the set with a kill from Baer to send them to the second set up, 1-0. 

The second set was similarly close by the end of the set, but it was not when it started: The Bruins dominated the opening points of the frame, going up 7-0 before the Bearcats scored, and leading by as much as 13-1. After a timeout by Willamette, the Bearcats started slowly working their way back, however, the Bruins kept scoring enough to keep them at bay. The Bruins' 12-point lead soon diminished to just two, 22-20, but Fox responded with a 4-1 surge (much like the 4-2 run from the first set) to finish the set with a 25-21 win, staving off the comeback. Heading into the third set, the Bruins found themselves up, 2-0 with a chance to finish off the sweep and pick up a conference win to start the weekend.

In the third, Willamette got out to a hot start, jumping to an 8-2 lead quickly to open up the set. The Bruins remained composed though, and slowly started to battle back, closing the lead to 11-9 after a 7-3 run. Willamette scored five straight to extend their lead again, and Fox came back again, this time to eventually take a 17-16 lead after a Gracie Bearden kill. Fox slowly built up a four-point lead, 23-19, and needed just a couple of points to finish off the set, but the Bearcats pushed one last time, bringing the score to 24-23. With a chance to end the game, Robertson came up clutch, picking up her seventh kill, putting a ball over the heads of the Bearcats, and ending the game with a 25-23 set victory for the Bruins.

Top Performances
Gracie Bearden led the team with 15 kills, and also led the team in hit percentage, hitting .357 for the day. Piper Hilgaertner had 19 digs, and Addison Robertson had seven kills with three digs. 

What It Means
The Bruins improved to 2-1 in conference play and are 6-6 overall for the year. The Bearcats fall to 2-10 (1-3 NWC). 

What Comes Next
GFU returns to the Wheeler Sports Center, for a game at home against the Pacific Boxers, on Saturday, Sep. 28th, at 6 pm.