Written by: Clayton Hashley
 
Kirkland, Wash. – Northwest University (7-9, 3-4 CCC) overcame No. 9 Southern Oregon (14-1, 7-1 CCC) in five close sets to give the Raiders their first loss of the season and the Eagles their third conference win.
 
After losing the first set (25-13), the Eagles used a 7-1 run to end the second set in their favor (25-19). Southern Oregon came back for the third set (25-17), but the Eagles found their special winning sauce for the last two sets (25-21, 15-12).
 
Northwest's Courteney Carr had a game-high 42 assists, and Sarah Warner had a team-high 15 kills to lead the Eagles. Much of the defensive effort came from Cristina Hegarty and Sienna Alvarez, who had 22 and 14 digs, respectively.
 
This was a huge win for the Eagles, who now look to be in a respectable conference position after beating a very tough team.
 
Northwest head coach Steve Bain commented, "Southern is obviously an outstanding team, and we knew it would take a team effort on our side of the net to even have a chance. The first set was our Achilles heel once again, but most of that had to do with the pressure that SOU applied with their fast offense. We reminded our players between the first and second set to take charge in serve-receive, and once they did that, we stabilized and were able to play side-out volleyball. I was also pleased with our moment-to-moment mindset, especially in the 4th and 5th sets when the match was on the line."