OLYMPIA – Northwest picked up a pivotal five-set win over Evergreen State Tuesday, winning 25-18, 21-25, 25-22, 19-25, 17-15.
 
The win thrusts the Eagles ahead of Evergreen State and into fifth place in the Cascade Collegiate Conference standings.
 
Susana Bailey stepped to the forefront Tuesday with 17 kills, while Abigail Broussard carried her workload well with 11 kills, two aces, and five blocks.
 
NU broke away somewhat early in the first set, methodically building a 9-5 lead before getting separation with a 4-0 run fueled by two kills by Bailey for a 13-5 lead. The Eagles led by as many as nine points in the set.
 
Evergreen edged the Eagles in the second set and led very early in the third set before Northwest hit its stride. Northwest used its front-line defense with blocks by Megan Horne, Anna Saelens, and Broussard to build a 9-5 lead. The Geoducks got within a point twice later in the set but Horne put the set in the books with a kill.
 
A zero attack percentage was Northwest's undoing in the fourth set and the teams played to a fifth set for the second time this season.
 
It was a back-and-forth set but the Geoducks got to match point with a 14-13 lead and again at 15-14. The Eagles got the side-out with an ESC attack error and put the match away with consecutive kills by Saelens and Broussard.
 
"Obviously, the score reflects a hard fought, tightly contested match and credit both teams for playing with great energy and effort," said NU Head Coach Steven Bain. "Evergreen kept us off balance with a terrific effort from the service line and we knew going into the fifth set that our margin for error would be thin. As well, we had to move Megan into the middle in that set due to an injury to Azaria and I was proud of our ability to embrace the changes, fight off two match points and then grit out a victory." 
 
Saelens finished with 43 assists.
 
The defense for the Eagles had few holes on the night with five NU players collecting double-digit digs. Cristina Lorenz led the way with 16, followed by Savannah Hale with 13 and Saelens, Kelsey Cummins, and Horne with 10 apiece.
 
Broussard led the front row with five blocks. Azaria Johnson and Kalei Kepler were in on three each.
 
"Once again though we will have little time to enjoy the win as we will face two of the top offensive teams in the conference this weekend," Bain said.
 
The Eagles, now 9-10 overall and 8-6 in the conference, host Oregon Tech (Friday) and Southern Oregon (Saturday) this weekend in a pair of 7 p.m. contests.