PORTLAND, Ore. – It was a five set thriller on Tuesday night for the Lions, as they defeated cross-town rivals Warner Pacific after a long and exciting match.

Set one appeared to be in the Lions favor, as they were ahead by as much as 7 points near the start. After a few runs, the Knights had not only worked their way back in but had the lead at 19-17. Their offense took the win from there, defeating Multnomah by 4, 25-21.

The Lions and Knights were steady in set two, until Multnomah had a hot streak near the end to pull away and win 25-18.

Both teams came into set three with high energy, knowing that the third set could be a huge determining factor in the outcome of the match. As the two traded runs, the momentum shifts were felt. Warner finished out the set winning by 4, 25-21 again.

With Warner fighting to win the match and Multnomah fighting to stay in it, every point in set four seemed to radiate throughout the gym. The teams were neck-and-neck, and tied up at 12's before the Lions offense caught fire. Multnomah went on a 6-point run to set themselves up for the win. Hannah McPhetridge went off as she landed 4 kills in that run alone. The final two points of the set came from the other middle block, Jennifer Crago – winning the set 25-17 to take them to their first five set match of the season.

The Knights came into set five consistent, and let Multnomah make the mistakes to put them ahead. WPU had the lead by 5, with a score of 9-4. But the Lions responded to the pressure with 4 straight points, forcing a Knight timeout. MU went on to score 4 more in a row, forcing the second and final timeout from Warner. Not stopping their streak, the Lions notched in 2 more points to end their streak at 10 in a row to ultimately put them in the position to win. One more kill from Hannah McPhetridge sealed the victory, 15-11.

Overall the game had exciting plays at every turn; whether it was a block from Jennifer Crago, a big swing from Jocelynn Porter, a wild dig from Alyssa Mehalovich, or a crazy save from Rachel Bailey – the Lions did not disappoint.

The numbers across the board for the Lions were outstanding – earning their season set high for kill percentage in set four with .467. Hannah McPhetridge led the Lions offensively, tallying a total of 16 kills with a .556 hitting percentage. Also with 16 kills and a huge contributor in the win was outside hitter Danae Stokes. Jocelynn Porter rounded out the double digit club with 12 on the night. Jennifer Crago also hit well, tallying 5 kills on 0 errors for an average of .357. Setter Rachel Bailey worked her tail off in the match, and finished a double-double after 52 assists and 11 digs. Alyssa Mehalovich led defensively with 19 digs, followed by Rayesa Efimov and Jasmine Santos who had 11 each.

UP NEXT:
The Lions will travel to Caldwell, Idaho, to play the Yotes of College of Idaho on Friday, October 22^nd. MU will then finish the weekend as they face the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers on Saturday, October 23^rd.