KIRKLAND – Northwest rallied from a set down to take a thrilling 3-2 win over Southern Oregon Saturday night.
 
The Eagles won it 28-26, 23-25, 20-25, 25-18, 16-14.
 
The victory sets the Eagles up well in the postseason chase at 9-7 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference and 10-11 overall.
 
"Playing Southern is always a challenge and at times their effort and offensive firepower was tough for us to match," said NU Head Coach Steven Bain. "Our ladies played with passion as well and did an excellent job of maintaining their composure in tough situations. Obviously, a good win for us, and hopefully, the things we learned last night and tonight will stick with us as we prepare for the remainder of our schedule."
 
Susanna Bailey, Abigail Broussard, and Megan Horne combined for 64 kills and a .359 attack percentage for the match. Bailey unofficially tied the single-match record at NU with 24 kills.
 
The Raiders had no answer for Broussard in the first set. Broussard collected 9.5 points in the first set alone on seven kills, three block assists, and an ace.
 
Down 26-25, Northwest tied the score on a service error, got an ace from Kelsey Cummins, and won the set on an attack error.
 
Southern Oregon seized control with wins in the second and third sets, attacking at a .262 and .419 percentage, respectively.
 
Northwest didn't fold, however, and attacked at a .406 clip in the fourth set.
 
Trailing 7-6, NU put together a decisive 8-0 run to build a 14-7 lead. Azaria Johnson took over at the net with four block assists in that spree. SOU got no closer than six points after that.
 
The Eagles found themselves down 14-13 in the tiebreaker set, Broussard tied it with a kill, and Johnson and Anna Saelens got up for a block to deliver a 15-14 NU lead. After a timeout by SOU, Johnson ended the match with a kill.
 
Bailey led NU with 24 kills, followed by Broussard with 22 and Megan Horne with 18. Anna Saelens posted 68 assists, tying for the third-most assists in a single match. Broussard had four aces and Cummins added two.
 
Johnson led the Eagles with seven blocks with Broussard adding six and Kalei Kepler five. Cristina Lorenz led the back row with 27 digs and Horne tacked on 10.
 
Northwest returns to action at 2 p.m. on Friday, hosting Walla Walla.