Bruins Push Wildcats to The Limit Before Falling

George Fox host Pacific University in an NWC match Saturday at 7 PM Linfield is off until Oct. 6th, when the Wildcats host the only other team still unbeaten in league play, PLU, at 7:00 PM.

File photo: Linfield College

NEWBERG - Giving 7th-ranked Linfield College one of its sternest tests of the season, the George Fox University Bruins put the Wildcats in a two-games-to-one hole for the first time all year before the visitors rallied for a 3-2 win over their Yamhill County rivals in a Northwest Conference women’s volleyball match Friday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center’s Miller Gym.

The Bruins fell to the Wildcats 30-23, 22-30, 30-27, 19-30, 5-15, dropping to 3-12 overall with their eighth setback in a row and 0-5 in the conference. The Wildcats, pushed to five games for only the second time this season, improved their best start ever to 13-0 overall and 6-0 in the league.

The Bruins benefited from a slow start to the Wildcats’ offense in game one, taking a 5-0 lead thanks to a kill by Elizabeth Anderson and four straight Linfield attack errors. The Bruins never trailed, leading by as many as eight points six times. The Wildcats got within three at 15-12 before a kill by Karina Philliber and three more Linfield attack errors put momentum back on the Bruins’ side.

Linfield used a 5-0 run early in game two to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 10-6 lead, and gradually pulled away, building as much as a 10-point lead at 29-19. The Wildcats took a 22-15 lead in game three before the Bruins rallied. A pair of kills by Anderson sparked a 6-0 run to cut the Linfield lead to one at 22-21, and a kill by the Bruins’ Whitney Kolb knotted it 23-23. A Linfield set error broke a 24-24 tie and gave the Bruins the lead for good, with another kill by Kolb sealing the win.

In their deepest hole of the season, the Wildcats responded.

A 9-1 run put Linfield ahead early at 13-3 in game four, but the Bruins battled back to within three when a Holly Hutchinson kill cut the gap to 17-14. A pair of kills by Lauren Kreiger and Katelyn Baker ignited a 7-2 run at that point that put the Wildcats back in firm control, and a kill by Emily Vuylsteke forced a fifth game.

The deciding skirmish belonged entirely to the Wildcats, who made sure the Bruins would spring no upset by racing out to 12-3 advantage. The Wildcats scored the final three points of the match for their largest lead of the game.

Anderson led the Bruins with a triple-double, posting 13 kills, 10 digs, and 10 blocks. Jennifer Panico added 10 kills for the Bruins, who hit only .077 for the match. Amy Knight had 35 assists. Six Bruins reached double figures in digs, led by Ashlie Keimig with 19. Knight added 18, Philliber 17, Panico 15, and Lani Rasmussen joined Anderson with 10. Hutchinson was in on nine blocks as the Bruins blocked 19 as a team.

Kreiger with 16 kills, Molly Taylor with 15, and Baker with 10 led the Wildcats, who hit only .093 after entering the match with a league-leading percentage of .230. Chelsey Gellatly passed out 57 assists. Hannah Veley and Meghan Flink had 23 digs each, Kreiger and Gellatly added 20 apiece, and Michelle Wyatt had 11.

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