By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director
NEWBERG, Ore. -- Willamette University outplayed George Fox University for most of their Northwest Conference volleyball match on Friday, Sept. 30 at the Wheeler Sports Center, as the Bearcats won 25-16, 25-20, 25-15. George Fox scored seven of the first eight points in the opening set, but Willamette rallied to take a 10-9 lead and never trailed during the rest of the match.
When the third set ended, Willamette's record improved to 4-9 overall, 2-3 in the Northwest Conference. The Bruins dropped to 2-10, 1-5 in the NWC.
Willamette executed well for significant stretches of the match and showed patience when needed, as the Bearcats won several long rallies.
The early success for GFU included two service aces, one by Hanna Kumasaka for the second point of the first set and one by Danyle Dupray for a 7-1 lead. Willamette bounced back quickly with a 5-1 run to cut the margin to 8-6. The Bruins tallied the next point, but the Bearcats responded with nine unanswered points for a 15-9 advantage.
Riley Fawcett (Sr., OH, Normandy Park, WA/John F. Kennedy HS) served eight of the rallies during the 9-0 surge. Emma Liband (Jr., MH, Sandpoint, ID/Sandpoint HS) began the run with a kill. Alexa Dowdell (Sr., OH/OPP, Mililani, HI/Maryknoll HS) contributed two kills, and combined with Liband for a block. GFU committed two ball-handling errors, two attacking errors and a bad set to help the Bearcats.
The Bruins got as close as 18-13 on a kill by Dupray, but WU completed the set with a 7-3 run.
Dowdell had five kills in the first set on her way to a match-high 10 kills overall. She it .231 for the match, and also provided Willamette with nine digs and four block assists. Lauren Stiles (Fr., OH, Altadena, CA/Flintridge Preparatory School) added eight kills, 10 digs and four service aces, while hitting .300.
Fawcett finished with seven kills, five digs and four block assists for the Bearcats. Kaylen Higa (So., LIB/DS, Mililani, HI/Punahou School) earned 17 digs. Tynan Gable (Jr., S, Woodinville, WA/Woodinville HS) recorded 19 assists.
George Fox was led by Delaney Cruz with nine kills and a .222 hitting percentage. Dupray supplied six kills and 17 digs. Kumasaka earned 14 assists.
The Bearcats registered 11.0 team total blocks and limited GFU to a .046 team hitting percentage. Willamette hit .212 as a team, including .321 in the first set.
In the second set, Willamette used strong serving from Gable, plus two kills by Stiles and one kill from Dowdell to zoom out to a 6-0 lead. Several points later, a kill by Cruz cut the lead to 8-4, but the Bearcats tacked on three consecutive points -- two on blocks involving Liband -- to increase the margin to 11-4.
GFU pulled within three points at 13-10 and trailed by just four points at 19-15 following a kill by Cruz. Stiles answered with a kill for WU, and then Taylor Lum (Sr., MH/OH, Honolulu, HI/Maryknoll HS) served four consecutive rallies that went to the Bearcats, as the lead increased to 24-15.
The Bruins recorded the next five points, ending with four consecutive kills by George Fox, before Fawcett sent a kill off a GFU block to end the rally. Willamette took the set, 25-20.
Willamette led 6-1 early in the third set, but the Bruins eventually tied the score at 9-9. The set was tied two more times at 10-10 and 12-12. Willamette started to pull way with three consecutive points on a kill by Stiles, plus a bad set and an attacking error by GFU.
A kill by Cruz reduced Willamette's lead to 15-13. The next nine points went to the Bearcats -- their second 9-0 run of the match. Fawcett pounded down three kills during the run, while Stiles achieved two service aces. WU led 24-13 on its way to a 25-15 win.
The Bearcats will play at home on Saturday, Oct. 1 against Lewis & Clark College. Match time at Cone Field House is set for 7 p.m. (PDT).
