Brooms Brought Out on Day Two Full of Sweeps
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SPOKANE, Wash. – The Frontier Conference continued to find success in a day full of shutouts at the Red Lion Cascade/Frontier Conference Challenge Friday.
A dozen matches took place on the second day of the challenge, 10 in volleyball and two in men’s soccer, and the Frontier Conference came away with nine wins. In all, the Frontier Conference has won 14 of the 18 matches through the first two days. Eastern Oregon volleyball has three of the Cascade Conference’s four wins.
All 10 of Friday’s volleyball matches were decided in three sets and one of the two soccer games was a 4-0 shutout, with the other being a 3-1 final. Despite the lopsided outcomes, the second day of competition was thrilling for the fans.
Montana State-Northern, Carroll College, and Eastern Oregon each won their two matches on the second day, setting up an exciting final day of volleyball in the challenge. The three teams are the only ones left undefeated, and EOU faces Northern and Carroll Saturday. Carroll and Eastern have yet to lose a set during the challenge, while MSU-Northern has lost only one set and won eight straight sets.
Things got off well for the Cascade Conference on Friday, as Eastern Oregon and Northwest both picked up sweeps to start the day. The Mountaineers ever trailed Montana Tech during their three-set win, and Northwest eased past Montana Western behind 26 assists from freshman Ashton Arbuthnot.
The Frontier Conference would then win the next four matches beginning with Great Falls cruising past The Evergreen State College, and MSU-Northern beating Corban. Carroll and Montana Tech would follow with wins over Northwest Christian and Northwest. Elli Graff, Rebecca Sweeney, and Kathleen Mulligan each had 12 kills for Carroll. Day one’s assist leader, Alison Lunde, finished with 36 assists for Montana Tech.
Eastern Oregon grabbed its fifth consecutive win, along with its 15th straight set victory, in a 3-0 sweep over Great Falls. The Mountaineers have won all six of their first sets played this season, including Saturday’s over the Argos, who were receiving votes in the national poll. On Court 2, Montana Western defeated Evergreen with the help of Paige Latimer’s 34 assists.
In the final matches of the day in the HUB, Carroll and Corban played in a match that featured 12 ties and six lead changes, and MSU-Northern racked up 43 kills against Northwest Christian.
On the pitch, Rocky Mountain used three second half goals to pull away from Northwest Christian with a 4-0 victory. The Battlin’ Bears led by only a goal at halftime, but found the net three times late in the match to cruise past NCU.
In the last game of day two, Warner Pacific struck first with a brilliant finish off of a cross 20 minutes into the match against No. 21 Great Falls. But, the Argos responded minutes later evening the score, and then a blast into the back of the net just before halftime gave UGF a 2-1 advantage at the midway point. Great Falls added a decisive point early in the second half to put away the Knights.
The third day of the challenge begins at 10 a.m. inside the HUB Sports Complex with Warner Pacific volleyball against Montana Western, and the first meeting between two undefeated teams on Court 2, Eastern Oregon and MSU-Northern. Live stats from both matches will be available on CascadeConference.org. Warner Pacific men’s soccer and Rocky Mountain kickoff at 5 p.m. at the Dwight Merkel Sports Complex.