LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University volleyball team picked up a victory on Senior Night over Concordia University, 3-1, Saturday.
The Mountaineers (16-9, 14-2 Cascade Collegiate Conference) won nine of their 10 home matches this season.
After EOU hit .429 in the opener to take a dominating 25-14 win, Concordia held the Mountaineers to a 0.065 attack rate in the second to even the series. Despite hitting -.020 themselves, the Cavaliers fought back after being down by as many as six points late in the set. Trailing 19-13, CU's stubborn defense forced the Mounties into six attacking errors down the stretch to complete the comeback with a 25-23 win.
In a back-and-forth affair in a third set that featured eight lead changes, EOU took the lead for good on a Katie Showers kill to make it a 20-19 advantage for the home team. The Mountaineers claimed five of the next six points for the five-point win after neither team could create more than a two-point separation through the first 40 services
EOU continued the momentum in the fourth set, outhitting the Cavs .286 to -.027 en route to the 25-13 win in the finale as four EOU players went on to reach double figures in kills.
Rebecca Haight led the match with 15 kills and was followed by 11 from Showers and 10 each from teammates Jessica Lea and Stefani Sorensen as EOU finished with a 56-to-39 edge in total kills.
Aria Nojima led the Cavs with 12 kills and was followed by nine from Clair Thiel and seven from Cassandra Koering. CU's Lindsay Mangan led the court with 28 assists while the EOU tandem of Lea and Emily Sampson finished with 47 of the team's 50 assists with Sampson leading the charge with 25.
Eastern travels to Klamath Falls Friday for its next match at Oregon Tech at 7 p.m. The match will feature live video and stats on EOUSports.com. Concordia hosts Warner Pacific in its final regular season match Friday at 7 p.m.