Roadrunners Continue onto Semifinals with Sweep of Highline

LAKEWOOD, Wash. – The defending champion Linn-Benton Roadrunners showed their prowess once again on Friday in the quarterfinals of the NWAC Championship, sweeping Highline (25-10, 25-13, 27-25) to advance to the semis at Pierce College.

The Roadrunners (32-1, 16-0 South) had little trouble in the first two sets, winning by double digits. They forced 21 Highline attacking errors overall thanks to a tough front line.

Highline (22-6, 11-1 West) battled back in the third set, leading for most of the first half of the set including by a 10-6 score. The Thunderbirds had set point at 24-23, but the Roadrunners took four of the final five points to finish the match with a sweep.

Shelbey Nichol led a balanced Roadrunner attack with 10 kills to just one error for a .450 hitting percentage. Eva Buford and Taya Manibusan each had seven kills and Kennedy Kantola had six kills. Grace Boeder added five kills and led the team with four block assists. Graci Zanona posted 17 digs and Savannah Hutchins had 21 assists to lead all players.

For the Thunderbirds, Angelina Pham had seven kills, nine digs and two block assists. Madison Maafala finished with 10 assists and five digs while Tru Onitsuka had 11 digs.

The Roadrunners advance onto the NWAC semifinals and will face Bellevue on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Pierce College. The Thunderbirds finish the season with a 22-6 record and a Co-West Region championship.

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