Roadrunners Move onto Final Four at NWAC Volleyball Playoffs

Lakewood, Washington — The Linn-Benton Roadrunners defeated the Highline Thunderbirds 3-0 in their Elite 8 match at the NWAC Volleyball Championship on Friday, Nov. 18. 

Improving to 32-1 on the season, the Roadrunners advance to the Final Four in the tournament where they will face Bellevue Community College on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 2 p.m.

THE MATCH 

The Roadrunners won the first set in commanding fashion with a score of 25-10, headlined by winning 14 of the first 15 points, including two kills from Shelbey Nichol. Linn-Benton capitalized on nine attack errors committed by the Thunderbirds in the first set.

The Roadrunners continued their control throughout the second set, bursting out to a 19-6 lead before closing out the set with a score of 25-13. Nichol recorded four more kills to add to her total of 10 for the match, the most of any player. The Roadrunners earned another eight points from errors in the second set while recording 11kills.

The third set proved to be most competitive, with the Thunderbirds taking an early 4-1 lead before the Roadrunners tied it up at 11-11. The Roadrunners would take the final lead at 14-13 with a kill from Tanya Manibusan with the team recording a match-high 18 kills in the third set. While the Thunderbirds played their best volleyball in the third set with 10 kills and only five errors, the Roadrunners proved victorious by a final score of 27-24 for a 3-0 sweep.

BOX SCORE

The Roadrunners stacked up 38 kills over the three sets to the Thunderbirds’ 22, while also serving up six aces over the three sets to the Thunderbirds’ one. Graci Zanona lead the Roadrunners with 17 digs while Eva Buford and Tanya Manibusan each added an additional seven kills to the team’s total. 

UP NEXT

The Roadrunners advance to a Final Four appearance against Bellevue on Saturday, Nov. 19.