Beaton, Hartwig push Cardinals into NWAC title match

LAKEWOOD, Wash. — When push came to shove on Saturday, sophomores Abigail Beaton and Rylee Hartwig pushed back for North Idaho College.

Beaton, named the East Region Most Valuable Player on Wednesday, had 15 kills and four digs for the Cardinals, who advanced to the Northwest Athletic Conference Championship match with a 25-18, 24-26, 25-15, 25-17 win over Yakima Valley on Saturday at Pierce College.

Hartwig, from Post Falls, had 10 kills and two digs, including the final kill of the match for NIC (32-1).

"Both Abby and Rylee have pushed each other all season," first-year NIC coach Brittany Tilleman said. "They've really elevated each other's level of play. When one is out of rotation, the other is communicating with them. In practice, they know what the other wants to do and they've got to get smart as hitters and know where to place balls. As long as we're in system, we can find them and score."

NIC will face Linn-Benton (35-0) in today's championship match at 3 p.m.

"We've got to leave it out there," Tilleman said. "We've still got to be us and can't change that depending on who we're playing. We've got to be ready to go. It's going to come down to being NIC and having fun with it."

Omayra Valley, a sophomore from Puerto Rico, had 19 digs and freshman Karolyne Wolfgramm 46 assists and seven digs for NIC.

McKenna Steiner had 13 kills for Yakima Valley (20-15), which faces Highline (30-5) today at noon for third-place.

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