KIRKLAND – After a brief respite at home, Northwest heads back out on the road for a three-game, three-state road weekend.
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The Eagles play College of Idaho in Nampa at 7 p.m. Friday before making a 154-mile trip to La Grande, Oregon, for a 5 p.m. game Saturday. The team then heads to Walla Walla to take on Walla Walla University at 11 a.m. Sunday. The round trip comes to about 1,000 miles.
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Northwest is 4-4 this season off the home court, including a 3-1 mark in true road games. The Eagles are 2-0 in Cascade Collegiate Conference road games this season, but this trip includes the challenge of back-to-back ranked opponents with No. 20 College of Idaho and No. 8 Eastern Oregon.
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The Eagles rank No. 23 in the NAIA in blocks per game at 2.27. Abi Broussard is 33
rd in the nation (1.11) and
Kylie Szczepanski is 36
th (1.09) in blocks per game. That pair ranks fourth and fifth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. Only Eastern Oregon has as many blockers among the first five in the league.
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Cristina Hegarty averages 5.17 digs per game, which ranks No. 42 in the NAIA.
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Broussard is fourth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference with a .276 attack percentage.
Keann White also is in the league's Top 10 at .251. Only two other teams-–Eastern Oregon and Oregon Tech-–have more than one player among the Top 10.
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Courteney Carr leads Northwest in assists per game at 7.2, which ranks her seventh in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. Broussard ranks ninth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference and leads the Eagles with 14 aces and 0.4 aces per set.Â
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Hannah Lord, who missed part of the Corban match and sat out against Northwest Christian, leads the Eagles with 2.6 kills per set. She is eighth in the league in that category.Â
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Ranked 20
th, the Yotes are 7-4 overall and 2-2 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, with losses to No. 11 Corban and No. 8 Eastern Oregon. C of I is No. 11 nationally in blocks per game, led by Kaydre Thompson with 1.45 per game. Jordyn Boswell leads the squad with 2.95 kills per game and 11 aces.
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Eighth-ranked Eastern Oregon is off to a 13-1 start with the lone loss coming at the hands of No. 11 Corban in four sets. The Mountaineers are coming off of a 3-0 sweep of the College of Idaho. EOU is No. 3 nationally in blocks per game at 2.76 and No. 7 in digs per game at 19.86. Cambree Scott leads the team and is fifth nationally with 72 blocks. Kiley McMurtrey is 11
th in the nation with 276 digs. Megan Bunn leads the team with 133 kills (2.71 per game).
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Walla Walla is 1-10 on the season and 0-4 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. The lone win came via forfeit from San Diego Christian after Walla Walla had lost on the court. The Wolves have lost 25 consecutive sets. Sarah Halverson leads the team with 2.16 kills per game.
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