SPOKANE, WASH. - The Northwest University women's volleyball team started the Whitworth Tournament with a match against Whitman College and earned the sweep Friday afternoon.
Fresh off an undefeated run at the Summer Slam, the Eagles look on to the second and final tournament of the regular season while the Blues kick off their regular season in Spokane.
The Eagles had a rough start against the Blues relentless attack to start off the first set. With the Blues up 23-17, the Eagles bounced back with a seven-point streak to launch themselves into the lead. However the Blues would send the game to overtime thanks to Aria Gushchina - kill leader of the Blues. Kaitlyn Mickle then reacted with two key kills of her own to give the Eagles for the first set 27-25.
The second set started with the Blues going 4-0 up, but the Eagles got back in the game, going 6-1 to give themselves the lead. After that, the Eagles pressed forward with a five-point streak and went 7-1 at the end of the set to win 25-15.
The third set started back and forth with each team trading ties and leads. While the Blues broke the exchange with a five-point streak to go up 15-11, the Eagles responded in kind with a 10-2 run that pushed them over the 20-point mark first. The Eagles ended up securing the final set and corralled the sweep over the Blues.
Mickle continues to dominate on the court with 15 kills on the day and Morgan Harter excelled with the assists, earning 24 in the match.
"It goes without saying that every match is unique and today's match vs. Whitman fit that mold," said Head Coach Steven Bain. "First, credit the Blues for being prepared and knocking us out of system in the first set. They were adept at exploiting our serve-receive and scoring points by placing balls where we weren't. We could have easily quit in the first set but kudos to our ladies for making plays when the set was on the line. After the first set, we stabilized in serve-receive and were able to upgrade our first contacts and close out the match.
As well, today's match reminded us of how important it is to do the things we say we believe in and we look forward to another challenging match tomorrow."
The Eagles will report Saturday afternoon at 4:00pm to take on hosts Whitworth University.
