Box Score PORTLAND, Ore. – Demonstrating once again the ages-old adage that numbers do not always tell the whole story, Multnomah University edged Northwest Christian University in almost every statistical category except set points as the Lions fell 3-0 to the Beacons in the Cascade Collegiate Conference opener for both teams Friday night here at Lytle Gym.
 
Multnomah held the advantage in kills (44-38), hitting percentage (.196-.191), assists (39-35), digs (50-41) and blocks (5-4), but NW Christian still pulled out three tight sets 27-25, 30-28, 25-19.  The Lions fell to 0-5 overall while the Beacons improved to 4-0.
 
In the opening set, the Lions rallied from a 24-21 deficit to tie it on kills by Miranda Halverson and Sabrina DeJesus-Bair and a tandem block by Halverson and Sydney Amundsen, but the Beacons put the set away with a kill by Kasey Campbell and block by Megan Van Marter and Maci Beierle.
 
Multnomah used consecutive winners by Halverson, Amundsen, and Maile Kam to build its own 24-21 advantage in the second set, but the visitors rallied behind two kills from Claire Salness to knot the set at 24-24.  The teams swapped points through 28-28 before  a kill by Carissa Allen and a Multnomah set error gave the Beacons a 2-0 lead.
 
The Lions fell behind by seven at 15-8 in the third set but three times came back within two, the last at 21-19 on a kill by Amundsen, but the Beacons closed out the match with four unanswered points.
 
The Lions had a trio of players with double-digits kills (Amundsen with 12, Halverson 11, and Patty Batoon 10), while Marissa Rhodes handed out 37 assists.  DeJesus-Bair had 16 digs and Halverson and Kam added 10 apiece, while Madysen Trout and Batoon had three block assists each.
 
Campbell, Salness, and Keri Schwarz had eight kills each for the Beacons, with Beierle passing out 32 assists.  Haley Damian posted 12 digs and Schwarz three block assists for NW Christian.
 
Quoting Coach Jenna Bouey: "It was a well-fought match by both teams.  NCU is always one of the best defensive teams; it's hard to put a ball away on them … Trout and Amundsen were excellent for us in the front row, and Sabrina was absolutely on fire in the back row with her digs and serve-receive passing … I'm happy with how the girls played tonight."
 
Next: Multnomah hosts Corban University in a CCC match Saturday at 5:00 p.m. … The Warriors (6-4, CCC 1-0) are ranked 9^th in the pre-season NAIA poll and are coming off a 3-0 win over Warner Pacific College Friday.