Volleyball Tournament Starts Tonight With Quarterfinals
LA GRANDE, Ore. – The 2017 Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Volleyball Championships, presented by U.S. Bank gets underway with two quarterfinal games tonight at campus sites of seeds No. 3 and No. 4. Both games are set to start at 7 p.m. PST.
No. 3 Eastern Oregon vs. No. 6 Northwest Christian
Defending regular season and tournament champion Eastern Oregon (21-8, 15-5 CCC) is currently ranked No. 13 in the latest NAIA national poll. Senior Madisen Garlie leads the league in blocks with 105 and outside hitter Amanda Miller is fifth in the conference with 222 kills. Miller became EOU’s all-time kill leader earlier in the season. Kaki Morehead guides the Mountaineers in her 11
th season.
Northwest Christian (16-9, 11-9 CCC) will make the trip from Eugene to seek the upset on the road. Defensively the Beacons are second in the league in digs at 18.42 per game and third in blocks with 158.5 over seventy-one sets. Senior Haley Damien averages 4.77 digs per outing. Offensively NCU is led by senior set-up artist Maci Beierle who is third in assists averaging 10.38 per set and junior Megan Van Marter with a hitting percentage of .316. Kelly Pitre, in her 4
th season is the head coach for NCU.
Eastern Oregon won both matchups during the regular season 3-0.
No. 4 Northwest vs. No. 5 Southern Oregon
Northwest and Southern Oregon are seeded exactly where the coaches preseason poll predicted they would be back in August at the number four and fifth spot respectively.
The Eagles (21-7, 15-5 CCC) are ranked No. 21 in the country and are led by defensively by senior Alyssanne Van Dyke. Van Dyke has been named the Red Lion Defensive Player of the Week on five different occasions this season and is second in the league in digs at averaging 5.47 per set. Offensively junior Audrey Saelens leads the league in hitting percentage at .359. Head coach for the Eagles is Steve Bain in his 6
th season.
The Raiders (15-10, 12-8 CCC), coached by Josh Rohlfing in his 10
th year, bring a young and talented group into the postseason. Freshman Makayla Hoyt is second in the league in hitting percentage at .346 while sophomore Taylor Ristvedt is tenth in kills with 217 and a 2.89 average. Junior Natalie James sits ninth in assists at 6.14 per set.
Northwest won both meetings this year 3-0 and 3-2.
Winners of the quarterfinal games will advance to the final site hosted by regular season champion and No. 1 seed Corban University Nov. 10-11. Corban and No. 2 seed The College of Idaho received a first round bye.
Tournament Central
Tuesday, Nov. 7 (Quarterfinals) -
@ Campus sites seeds # 3 and #4
Seed # 3 EOU vs. Seed # 6 NCU - 7 p.m.
Seed # 4 NU vs. Seed # 5 SOU - 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 10 (Semifinals) - @ Corban University
Seed # 2 CI vs. next highest seed - 4 p.m.
Seed # 1 CRB vs. highest seed - 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 11 (Championship) - @ Corban University
Winners of semifinals - 3 p.m.