Oregon Tech's Megan Christensen finished with a team-high 13 kills in four set loss to Concordia University. (photo by Kelly Caleb)
Oregon Tech Effort Falls Short Against Cavaliers
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - Oregon Tech finished with three players in double digit kills, but it wasn't enough to get past Concordia University tonight at Danny Miles Court. The Owls fell to the Cavaliers in a back-and-forth four set battle 25-23, 21-25, 26-24, 25-21.
Oregon Tech falls to 11-14 overall and 3-10 in Cascade Conference play. The Cavaliers remain in third place with a 9-3 mark in the conference standings.
After a 13-13 tie in the opener, the Cavaliers pushed their lead to 18-14. Oregon Tech did not go away and would eventually pull the set to within one point, 22-23. However, CU would put the final two points away to go up 1-0 in the match.
After four ties in set 2, the last at 16-16, the Owls would take a four point lead, 20-16. This time Concordia would creep back to within one, 22-21. Oregon Tech’s Mikayla Morgan came up with a big kill to boost the lead to 23-21, and then took advantage of two Cavalier hitting errors to tie the match up, 1-1.
Set 3 was tied 12 times early before Oregon Tech looked to be in great shape with a 19-13 lead. The Cavs would then put together a 9-3 run that eventually tied it at 22-22. After a 24-24 tie, CU would gain a 2-1 advantage after back-to-back kills by Raluca Dinca and Lindsay Mangan made it 26-24.
CU jumped out to a 7-0 advantage is set 4 and looked to be on cruise control. The Owls, however, would chip away at their deficit and eventually close the gap, 20-17 thanks to kills by Mikayla Morgan and Jennifer Saltenberger, sandwiched between two CU attack errors. Tech could get no closer, however, as CU took the set and match winning 25-21.
Megan Christensen came away with a team-high 13 kills, followed by Mikayla Morgan with 11 and Mindy Rencher 10. The three combined for 34 of the teams 51 kills. Hannah Brewster led the defense with 16 digs with Rencher picking up back-to-back double doubles after adding 13 digs tonight. Oregon Tech tied a season-high record after recording 17 total blocks to go with a .181 hitting percentage.
Raluca Dinca posted a 19 kill effort to go with 13 digs in the win for the Cavaliers. Sarah Harper added a double-double with 16 kills to go with a team-high 14 digs. Lindsay Mangan recorded 49 assists and three aces.