College Place, Wash. – Walla Walla hosted the Knights of Warner Pacific University on Thursday evening for their first matchup of the season. Timely hits lead to the Knights (3-9, 2-6 CCC) overcoming the Wolves (1-15, 0-9 CCC) attack, sweeping past them in straight sets, 25-23, 21-25, 25-20.
In the early stages of the opening set, the teams played even before the Wolves pulled ahead with an 8-0 run to take an 11-4 lead. The teams' battled back-and-forth for the next stage of the set, as the Wolves continued to hold onto their eight-point lead. The Knights responded, however, reeling off an impressive 9-0 run to take their first lead since 4-3. The Wolves answered and put another run together to take back the lead 18-15 before the Knights answered with a 4-0 run. The Wolves sat in a nice spot up 23-22 and were serving, but the Knights were able to stop the Wolves' momentum and reeled off three straight points to claim set one, 25-23.
Set two saw the Wolves start strong, putting the Knights in a hole early, but the Knights battled back and the teams played neck-and-neck with each team holding a slim two-point lead or less as play went deeper into the set. With the score knotted at 17, the Knights went on a decisive 3-0 run to claim the lead and hold a 20-18 lead. The Wolves continued to fight, but they could not overcome the Knights lead and dropped the set 25-21.
Set three saw a similar theme as the second set, with no team holding a big lead. It was not until a 7-1 run by the Knights gave the visiting team some breathing room at 14-8. The Knights extended their lead, doubling up the Wolves 18-9. The Wolves fought back and cut the Knights lead to five at 20-15. Unfortunately for the Wolves they could not overcome the five-point deficit and dropped set three 25-20.
Walla Walla was led by Sarah Halversen (7 kills) and Gabrielle Browning (7 kills, 4 blocks), while Krista Schafer led the Wolves in passing with 15 assists.
Walla Walla looks to move on, hosting the Lions of Multnomah University on Sunday, October 6 at 4 p.m. on Windemuth Court.
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