EOU Splits Day One at Labor Day Tournament
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Eastern Oregon University volleyball team split its first two matches at the Embry-Riddle Labor Day Tournament. EOU lost to No. 5 Oklahoma Baptist, 3-0 (25-23, 31-29, 25-22) before coming back and defeating Talladega, 3-0 (25-7, 25-23, 25-14) in its second match of the day.
Taylor Stewart led the Mountaineers for the two matches with 21 kills, followed by Casey Lopers 19 kills. Karly Stack dished out 40 assists for the two matches.
"Oklahoma Baptist was a good team who we matched up very well against," said head coach Kaki Morehead. "Unfortunately errors caught up with us and we weren't able to finish games we needed to. The girls played well this afternoon against Talladega but there are a few things we need to work on."
Oklahoma Baptist (OBU) and Eastern Oregon were locked into a tight match that saw 32 tie scores and 15 lead changes.
In the first set EOU and OBU were locked in a tight battle to start the match. With Eastern Oregon down 6-5, and serving EOU scored the next four points to take a 9-6 lead. The Bison found themselves down 11-8 after a Stewart kill. However, OBU went on a seven point run to put them on top 15-11.
The Mountaineers continued to battle and tied the set at 19 after a Bison attack error. However, Eastern Oregon did not regain the lead after tying it at 19 and fell to OBU, 25-23 in the first set.
Oklahoma Baptist got off to a fast start in set two pulling ahead 7-3 to start the set. However, the Mountaineers started to slowly battle back. EOU found themselves down 13-7 and stormed back by scoring the next six points. After that neither team held a lead larger than two points.
The second set saw 14 tie scores and seven lead changes. EOU had match point four times in the second set and could not capitalize on the opportunities and fell, 31-29 in set two.
Just like the first two sets, as it was a close match the entire match. EOU and OBU saw 10 tie scores in the third set and four lead changes. Eight of the 10 lead changes came in the first 20 points of the match.
OBU and EOU continued to battle but Oklahoma Baptist looked as if they were starting to pull away as they led 22-16 in the third set. However, Eastern Oregon continued to battle and scored the next four points to trail by two, 22-20. EOU could not over the deficit and fell 25-22 in the third set to fall to OBU, 3-0.
In the second match of the day, EOU took on Talladega. The Mountaineers swept the Tornado 3-0 (25-7, 25-23, 25-14).
The Mountaineers were off to the races in set one as they scored the first five points of the match. EOU continued to dominate in the first set and extend its lead as a kill by Kasaundra Tuma gave EOU a 12-4 lead. With EOU up 13-6, the Mountaineers scored eight straight points to give them a 21-6 lead. EOU went on to take set one 25-7.
Set two was not as easy of a victory of the Mountaineers. EOU and Talladega were locked in a back and forth match in set two that saw the lead no larger than three points for the entire set. EOU took control of the game late and after being tied at 20, EOU took the lead and never looked back to take the second set 25-23.
EOU started off slow in the third set as the Tornados had the match tied at two early. After that Eastern Oregon started to pull away. After taking a 3-2 lead EOU held the lead for the rest of the set. The Mountaineers lead grew to nine, 18-9, in the third set after an ace by Jessalynn Smith. Eastern Oregon continued to extend its lead and took the set, 25-14 and the match 3-0.
Against Talladega, Tuma compiled a hitting percentage of .778 for the match with seven kills on nine attacks.
With the split today EOU improves to 7-2 on the season. EOU returns to the court tomorrow to face Mobile at 11 a.m. PT start and Embry-Riddle at 4 p.m. PT.