SPOKANE, Wash. - George Fox University overcame a spirited comeback by Whitworth University to defeat the host Pirates 30-28, 30-23, 18-30, 27-30, 17-15 in a Northwest Conference women's volleyball match on Saturday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Rusch had 33 kills for the Pirates

The Bruins (6-3 overall, 1-1 NWC) bounced back from a five-set loss at Whitman College on Friday night while overcoming the 33 kill effort from Whitworth's Sarah Rusch (Jr., MB, Walla Walla, Wash.). The Pirates fell to 6-4, 1-1.

The Bruins pulled out a tight first game that saw 11 ties and four lead changes. GFU took a 28-25 lead after back to back errors by the Pirates. Whitworth tied the game at 28-28 before the Bruins won with two straight kills, the last from Jenna Dohren.

George Fox used the momentum to dominate the second game, hitting .255 as a team for their best percentage of the match. They took a 10-5 lead on a kill from Cassandra Woods and led by as many as eight points for much of the set before winning 30-23 on a Pirate attack error.

After the break the Pirates came out with a .316 hitting game of their own to blow past the Bruins 30-18. Whitworth built leads of 13-4, 18-9 and 28-15 before winning on a George Fox attack error.

The Bruins seemed to shake off of the third game loss when they led for most of the fourth stanza. Whitney Kolb's kill gave GFU a 19-15 lead, and Elizabeth Anderson finished a kill for a 25-21 Bruin advantage. But the Pirates rallied with a 9-2 run to close the game, winning on an ace by Cassie Moore and tying the match two games apiece.

The final game went back and forth. George Fox overcame an early 4-2 deficit to take a 7-5 lead on Carli Bowman's ace. But Whitworth rallied with five straight points, including two kills by Randi Stephens, to force a Bruin time out. The Pirates led 12-9 when GFU scored three straight to tie the game. But Whitworth managed to gain two match points at 14-13 and 15-14 before the Bruins finished the game, and the match, with three straight points and a 17-15 win.

Rusch led all players with 33 kills while hitting .460 for the Pirates. Nikki Bardwell and Jill Solbrack added a dozen kills each and Stephens chipped in 11 kills and five blocks. Moore had a match-high 36 digs and led all players with five aces. Holly Ridings had 63 assists.

George Fox got 14 kills and four blocks from Anderson and 13 kills and a team-high 26 digs by Jennifer Panico. Kolb and Woods each added 11 kills, while Amy Batchelder dished 46 assists.

Coming Up: Whitworth will travel to Oregon to take on Willamette and Linfield next week. Both matches begin at 7:00 p.m. Willamette is 2-8 overall and 0-2 in the NWC. The Bearcats have dropped three straight since beating the Pirates 3-1 at the Whitworth Invitational on September 8th. Last season Whitworth won both meetings with Willamette in conference play, taking a 3-2 victory in Salem and winning 3-0 in Spokane.

Linfield, the defending NWC co-champions, defeated Willamette 3-1 last Wednesday to improve to 5-4 overall, 1-0 in the NWC. The Wildcats rolled past the Pirates twice last season in 3-0 matches.