KIRKLAND – Northwest forced the newly minted No. 1 team in the NAIA to five sets but the upset bid came up short against Eastern Oregon on Friday, 25-19, 21-25, 25-19, 16-25, 15-10.
 
Abigail Broussard led the Eagles with 14 kills with Karste Wright and Kaitlyn Mickle adding 10 apiece. Morgan Harter had 18 assists and Anna Saelens contributed 16. The Eagles came up with 10 aces with Allie Flynn producing five and Reece Denney three.
 
Kelsey Moore led the back row with 22 digs with Harter getting 14, Caitlyn James 12 and Denney 11. Kylie Lunday had three blocks for the Eagles.
 
"Eastern Oregon is obviously a terrific team and if there is a better defense in the country, I'm not sure I would want to play that team," said NU Head Coach Steven Bain. "We knew going into this match that Eastern's defense would pressure us to play clean and that we would have to be patient and willing to play long. For the most part we were able to embrace that challenge and our effort was as good as it's been all season. Still disappointing though that we weren't able to get the outcome we were after but hopefully we learned from tonight's experience and can translate that effort into continued improvement."
 
Preslee Jensen and Sade Williams had 13 kills apiece to lead the Mountaineers with Alexis McMurtrey getting 24 assists and three aces.
 
Williams led with 19 digs, followed by Jessie White with 14, and Hailey Arritola and McMurtrey with 10 each. Ashton Houghton and Cambree Scott had four blocks each.
 
The Eagles fall to 8-10 overall and 4-6 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference with the loss. NU hosts the College of Idaho on Saturday at 7 p.m.