Corban tallied a season-high 10 blocks today against Simpson, including a pair of combo blocks by freshman Morgan Hirzel to go along with her team-leading nine kills.
Corban Breaks Down Simpson & Team Bus
BOX SCORE
PORTLAND, Ore. – In earning its first victory of the season, Corban's women's volleyball team systematically broke down the visiting Redhawks of Simpson both offensively and defensively en route to a three-set sweep, 3-0 (25-10, 26-24, 25-21), Friday afternoon at Cavalier Gymnasium on the campus of Concordia University.
Following the conclusion of the match that was moved to the Rose City due to freshman orientation at Corban and the lack of gym space, the Warriors hopped on the team bus and proceeded to run into wheel troubles heading back to Salem that forced other alternative modes of transportation in order to get the team back home.
Prior to the excitement that was created by bus issues, Corban registered a season-high 10.0 blocks coupled with a mere nine hitting errors as first-year head coach Nels Norquist picked up his inaugural victory as head coach of the Warriors.
Set #1 began with both teams battling back and forth over the opening 12 combined points leading to a tied score at 6-6. Corban then used a 13-1 run that was highlighted by three straight kills from freshman Jenny Harman (Salem, Ore.) and another three unanswered kills off the arm of freshman Morgan Hirzel (Fullerton, Calif.) to take an insurmountable 19-7 lead. The Warriors would grab the opening set by the final score of 25-10 thanks to back-to-back service aces by freshman Chandra Baskoro (Gresham, Ore.) that ended the opening frame.
In the second and middle set, it was a battle over the opening 32 combined points as the score showed 16-16. A 3-0 run by Corban that included a combo block by freshman Karisa Calderon (Murrieta, Calif.) and junior Teri Braun (Dallas, Ore.), a service ace by sophomore Megan Dees (Tehachapi, Calif.), and a Simpson hitting error led to a 19-16 Warrior lead. Simpson would use an 8-5 run to knot the score at 24-all, which forced extra play. The middle frame ended with a kill by sophomore Tiffany Land (Independence, Ore.) and a Redhawk attack error, as the Warriors secured the two-point victory (26-24) and a two-sets-to-none lead heading into the break.
Coming out of the 10-minute break, both teams hung tough over the opening 24 combined points as the score was knotted at 12-12. Corban then used an 8-4 run that was highlighted by a pair of kills by Land that led to a 20-16 Warrior lead. Over the final 10 combined points, Corban got help from three Simpson service errors as well as a pair of Redhawk offensive errors that led to the final tally of 25-21 and a three-set sweep by the Warriors.
Hirzel led the Warriors with a team and match-high tying nine kills and a team-best tying two blocks, while Baskoro and Land tallied 7 and 6 kills respectively to go along with Baskoro's team-leading nine digs. Calderon led the Warriors' offense with a team-high 19 assists, while three Corban players (Braun, Hirzel, and Harman) registered a pair of blocks each.
Simpson was led by Megan Heine's match-high tying nine kills, while Kristian Gibson and Kelly Brown added 7 and 5 kills respectively. Nicole Sikich led the Redhawks' offense with a match-high 21 assists, while Gibson registered a match-high 11 digs for the Northern California-based university.
With today's victory, Corban improves to 1-5 overall versus Simpson's early mark of 0-1. The Warriors will return to the court on Friday, September 4th, when they open Cascade Collegiate Conference play against nationally-ranked Eastern Oregon beginning at 7:00 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.