NEWBERG, Ore.  Methodist volleyball made a trip across the country to begin its season, playing the opening two games on its schedule Friday at the Oregon Trail Volleyball Tournament.

The time change -- playing their opening match at 9 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time -- was not kind to the Monarchs, who were downed 3-0 by Linfield (Ore.) College in a neutral-site match before falling 3-0 to Friday-host George Fox (Ore.) University in an early-afternoon match.

JUST THE FACTS
Final scores: Linfield def. Methodist, 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 72-25), George Fox def. Methodist 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-14)
Records: Methodist 0-2, Linfield 1-0, George Fox 1-0
Location: Wheeler Sports Center, George Fox University, Newberg, Ore.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The season opener against Linfield turned late in sets 1 and 3 for the Monarchs.
• Though Methodist had never led in the first set, it fought off set three set points to claw back to within one point at 24-23 before the Wildcats would close out the set victory.
• In the middle of the third set the Monarchs would grab their first lead of the match, at 17-16, on a Maddie Barga service ace.
• Though Linfield would even the score with the next point, Methodist eventually broke out to a 22-18 edge, with Megan Andrews knocking down three consecutive service aces to increase the advantage.
• Late in the set the Monarchs led 25-24 but the Wildcats would reel off three unanswered points to rally for the set, and match, win.
• George Fox simply never let Methodist in the match. The Bruins opened the first set with a 5-0 run, and later had a 9-0 run before exchanging the last few points in the set victory.
• The second and third sets opened in similar fashion, with the Monarchs unable to fight back into either set against the home team in its season opener.

MATCH STATS

• Andrews racked up team highs in kills (16) and digs (17) while generating a team-best 19.0 points over the two matches.
• Lili Henry dished out a total of 40 set assists and chipped in with 14 digs.
• Barga and Riley Adair paced the defense against Fox with nine digs apiece.
• In her collegiate debut, freshman Alyssa Wrench piled up a total of nine kills on the day, and came away with one of the team's two solo blocks on Friday.

NEXT UP
The Tournament continues Saturday with a switch in venue as Methodist makes the short trip across Portland, Ore., to Lewis & Clark College where it will play Pacific (Ore.) University and the host Pioneers at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. EDT, respectively.