Kristin Henning had 12 kills and six blocks in C of I win
College of Idaho and Southern to Play for CCC Volleyball Title
CALDWELL, Idaho - Jessie Link recorded 13 kills in a decisive Set 4, as The College of Idaho advanced to the 2008 Cascade Conference Tournament championship game with a 25-21, 25-21, 25-27, 25-12 victory over Eastern Oregon in the J.A. Albertson Activities Center.
With the win, the No. 21 Lady Yotes (22-7) won their 11th-straight match in a row and their 29th-straight match over Eastern. The C of I will meet Southern Oregon, a five-set winner over Oregon Tech in the first semifinal, in tomorrow's title tilt.
Set 1 saw the Yotes hold a 21-19 margin, but three straight points - including kills from Link and Kristin Henning, helped The C of I take the early lead. A kill by Grace Deboodt, who went over the 1,000-career kill mark tonight, pulled the Mountaineers (20-10) within 22-21 in the second stanza, but an EOU hitting error and kills from Henning and Madie Machurek closed out the period.
Set 3 saw momentum swing EOU's way, as the Mounties rallied from an 8-3 deficit with a seven-point push, helped by five C of I hitting errors. After 13 ties, Eastern capitalized on their third set point, winning the period on a Coyote hitting error.
However, the run was short-lived, as the Coyotes ran off eight-straight points midway through Set 4, building a 18-8 lead and cruised to the win.
Henning had 12 kills and six blocks, with Megan Spinks adding ten kills and five blocks in the win. Naomi Reimer had seven kills, 22 assists, and ten digs, with Machurek registering 24 assists and eight blocks. Marcella Hernandez led all players with seven blocks, with Whitney Owen recording a career-high tying 25 digs.
Eastern got a monster night from Jessica Lea - recording a triple-double with 12 kills, 16 assists, and 12 digs, while Deboodt had 11 kills and ten digs.
In the first semifinal, Southern Oregon won a slugfest from Oregon Tech, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-12 - as the two teams combined for 138 kills.
After the teams split the first four sets, the Raiders (20-9) got back to back Kalista Harrison kills to open the finale on a 6-2 run. Tech would claw within 11-10 on an SOU hitting error, kills from Harrison and Sarah Holgen got the lead back to three, with Holgen putting away the clincher to win the match.
Leanne Stennett had 16 kills for SOU, with Mia Wortel and Holgen each recording 15 kills in the win. Setter Lindsey Stone had 60 assists and 14 digs, with libero Maggie Rivers recording 27 digs.
Krista Wooley had a monster afternoon for OIT (22-7), recording 21 kills and 30 digs, with Mikayla Morgan adding 14 kills, Nicole Andrews 12, and Megan Christensen 11. Lizzie Law had 59 assists in the loss for Tech.
The winner of tomorrow's 7 p.m. CCC title match will earn the league's automatic berth into the NAIA National Championships.