Eastern Oregon Volleyball in NAIA Match of the Week
Mountaineers face Rocky Mountain in Big Sky Tournament
Alan Grosbach, Manager of Communications and Sports Information
NAIA Match of the Week – No. 1
No. 6 Eastern Oregon (2-0, 0-0 CCC) vs. No. 5 Rocky Mountain (Mont.) (2-2, 0-0 Frontier)
Saturday, August 29 | 9 a.m. MDT | Butte, Mont.
• The first installment of the 2015 NAIA Volleyball Match of the Week pits a pair of top-teams from out west, as No. 6 Eastern Oregon tangles with No. 5 Rocky Mountain (Mont.) Saturday at the Big Sky Classic.
• The Big Sky Classic, hosted by Carroll (Mont.), features 12-teams, including four programs ranked in the preseason Top 25 – Rocky Mountain, Eastern Oregon, No. 8 Vanguard (Calif.) and No. 14 College of Idaho.
• The Battlin’ Bears, who won the Frontier Conference with a 14-0 league record a season ago, were picked second in the conference’s preseason poll. Rocky Mountain was edged by No. 23 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) by two points. Both programs received three first-place votes.
• Rocky Mountain’s springboard to success in 2014 was at the Big Sky Classic, as the program defeated a pair of top-five teams en route to grabbing the No. 1 ranking. The Battlin’ Bears held the mark for 11-straight weeks, before losing the top spot to national champion Park (Mo.).
• Rocky Mountain enters the weekend with a 2-2 mark with all four matches coming against teams that were at least receiving votes in the preseason poll.
• Despite losing First Team All-America middle blocker Yang Yang, the Battlin’ Bears boast a talented squad this season. Senior middle blocker Mariah Stiffarm – a 3-year starter for the club – enters the tournament as the team’s leading hitter with 81 total kills – second-best total in the NAIA – (4.1 kills per set) and a .321 attack percentage. Her 24 total blocks – two solo – ranks fourth nationally.
• Libero Brooke Myers and setter Tori Bertsch are also key cogs for Rocky Mountain. Myers is second in the NAIA in total digs with 114, while Bertsch is third nationally with 184 assists.
• Since finishing the 2012 season below .500, Rocky Mountain has seen nothing but success, garnering a 59-14 record (.808) and back-to-back appearances in the NAIA Volleyball National Championship.
• Eastern Oregon, which split the 2014 Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) regular-season title with Southern Oregon, was picked as the preseason favorite to win the league by its coaches.
• The Mountaineers had arguably their most successful season to date in 2014, ending the season with a 30-6 record and ultimately reaching the quarterfinals of the national championships in their first-ever appearance. Eastern Oregon upset Georgetown (Ky.), 3-2, in a five set thriller to reach the round of eight.
• The win total marked the third time in program history that the Mountaineers reached the 30-win plateau. The 1985 and 1987 seasons were the other two.
• Eastern Oregon comes into the Big Sky Classic with a 2-0 record. Both victories were sweeps against teams from the Frontier Conference.
• Junior setter Rachelle Chamberlain is the top returning player for the Mountaineers. The Challis, Idaho, native ended the year with a 10.97 assist per set average and 22 aces en route to First Team All-CCC accolades. Through two matches this year, Chamberlain averages 11.0 assists per set and is third on the team with 12 digs.
• Kasaundra Tuma and Amanda Miller are the focal point of the Eastern Oregon offensive attack. Both hitters are averaging at least 4.0 kills per set and own a .404-or-better attack percentage.
• Both programs play multiple games as part of the classic before facing off in the Match of the Week. Rocky Mountain opens with Pacific Union (Calif.) on Thursday, before playing Corban (Ore.) and College of Idaho on Friday. Eastern Oregon squares off with Carroll and Great Falls (Mont.) on Friday.