College Place, Wash. - The fourth-ranked Corban University Warriors played as visitor to the Walla Walla Wolves in College Place on Monday afternoon. It would serve as a preparation match for the Warriors (16-10, 12-5 CCC) as they are gearing up for a playoff run.
 
The first point of the game went to the Warriors, the ensuing eight points, however, went to Walla Walla (0-18, 0-17 CCC) in one of their best runs of the season. Corban then battled back to take a slim lead, just as expected from a team who is playoff bound.  After a kill by freshman Regan Murray, the Warriors regained the lead at 15-14.  From that point on, the set developed into a fierce and competitive one.  The score was tied up at 18-18 after an emphatic block by Walla Walla's Sarah Halversen and Morgan Doyle.  Another run by the Warriors would follow, however, as they scored the next five points to gain a 23-18 advantage, which they rode through the end of the set, winning it by a score of 25-20.
 
The second set was a tight one at the start, but attacking and setting errors by the Wolves proved costly, as they allowed Corban to take an 8-4 lead, forcing Walla Walla Head Coach Scott Schafer to call a timeout. The Wolves had a renewed sense of focus after the timeout, trading hard-earned points with the Warriors, and trimming the deficit to just two after a Sarah Halversen kill made the score 11-9. From that point forward, set number two belonged to Demi Winters and the Warriors, as they outscored the Wolves 14-4 and took the set victory by a score of 25-13.
 
If it wasn't safe to say before, by the time the Warriors took a 3-2 lead in the third set, it was definitely safe to say that Corban junior hitter Adriana Aguayo was giving out a dominant performance.  Of Corban's first three points in the set, two of them came from the attacking prowess of Aguayo, as she slammed down her 11^th kill of the match.  Several points later, the Wolves' Sarah Halversen and Caldora Blackburn got the home crowd going.  After Halversen's powerful kill sent the Warriors scrambling backwards to save the point, Blackburn rose way up to deliver a kill straight into the Warriors' hardwood.  The kill cut Corban's lead to just two, at 10-8, and gave the Wolves a hefty jolt of momentum.  While errors hurt both sides (18 WWU- 16 CRB), it seemed throughout this match that the Wolves' errors were more untimely, as they came in spurts of three or four at a time.  However, this set was far from given away. The Warriors' agility and crisp movement in the attack helped them secure a 25-15 win in the third set, taking the match victory 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-14).
 
The second-ranked Eastern Oregon Mountaineers (21-5, 16-2 CCC) will represent the Wolves next opportunity to steal a win. That match will be on November 1^st at 7:00 p.m. in College Place, Wash. 

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