EUGENE, Oregon – Northwest dropped a hotly-contested, four-set decision at Northwest Christian Friday, 26-24, 22-25, 25-23, 25-23.
 
"Give credit to NCU. We played hard but not with the same conviction," said NU Coach Steven Bain. "The reason we know this is that when the sets were on the line they made plays and we didn't. Hard lessons and we need to take it to heart if we want a different result."
 
Hannah Lord led NU with 15 kills with Sarah Howlett knocking down 11 and Abi Broussard 10. Courteney Carr and Anna Saelens had 19 assists each with Cristina Hegarty adding 10.
 
Keann White and Kylie Szczepanski were in on five blocks apiece. Hegarty had 21 digs, followed by Tatiana Ensz with 15 and Hannah Michael and Carr with 11 each.
 
Northwest broke open a 6-6 first set with an 8-0 run, including four kills by Howlett, to establish a 14-6 lead. NU had a 22-17 lead before the Beacons rolled off six consecutive points for a 23-22 lead. A kill by Lord knotted the game at 24-24, but NCU got the next two points on a service error and a block by Payton Jones and Halle Neumann.
 
The Eagles trailed 17-13 in the second set before going on a 6-1 run fueled by two kills and a block by Broussard. A kill by Szczepanski and an NCU attack error stopped a late rally by the hosts.
 
NU rallied from being down 15-8 in the third set with a 6-0 run and then tied the game at 23-23 before the Beacons got a kill by Taylor Gould and a block by Natalie Downs to take the 2-1 lead in sets.
 
Northwest led 17-12 at one point in the fourth set but couldn't stave off the Beacons.
 
The Eagles drop to 10-10 overall and 8-6 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference with a 7 p.m. game at No. 7 Corban coming Saturday.