MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon volleyball team returned home this week to begin a run of four straight home games to close out their 2019 season. The Wolves would drop the first of those games, falling 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-11) to the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks on Thursday at NPE Gym.
Northwest Nazarene (12-12, 8-9 GNAC) had no troubles getting out of the gates, scoring the first four points of the night and starting the first set on a 10-4 run. The Nighthawks held a .229 hitting percentage in the opening set, posting a .284 mark for the entire night.
Western Oregon (4-20, 2-15 GNAC) trailed 17-13 at one point in game one, but made a run to pull back within one point late in the set. After letting the Wolves back in the door, NNU closed the set on a 6-2 wave.
Descinda Slaughter finished with a match-high nine kills on 19 attacks. It was a season-high in kills for Slaughter and her highest single-game total since Aug. 24, 2018, when she recorded 14 against Tiffin University.
WOU picked up their only lead of the night early on in the second set. After trailing quickly 2-0, the Wolves bounced back with three straight points to take a brief 3-2 lead— Slaughter provided all three kills during the run. After the Wolves took the 3-2 advantage, the Nighthawks then ran off seven straight points and 14 of the next 15 to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 16-4 lead.
Western had a 13-4 run of their own later in the set to get competitive late, but the gap was just too big to recover.
Sarah Crowell added on three service aces in a matter of four points during that run. She finished the match with six kills, eight digs, three aces and a block.
Northwest Nazarene was led by the eight kills each of Natalie Sullivan and Abbey Blum. Megan Nelson finished just shy of a double-double with 22 assists and eight digs.
Makenzie York matched her season-high in blocks, getting in on three of the eight total blocks for WOU. York was the only Wolf with multiple blocks Thursday.
Next up, the Wolves host the Central Washington Wildcats on Saturday, Nov. 16. First serve is set for 1 p.m. PST at NPE Gym.
