No. 11 Mountaineers Sweep the Competition Friday
BUTTE, Mont. – The No. 11 Eastern Oregon volleyball team finished the day perfect, earning back-to-back sweeps to open the Big Sky Invitational on Friday.
The Mountaineers (4-3) opened the day with a dominant sweep over Rocky Mountain (25-22, 25-19, 25-14) before finishing the evening with a 3-0 takedown of No. 14 Montana Tech (28-26, 25-21, 25-22).
Match 1 – No. 11 EOU 3, Rocky Mountain 0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-14)
Eastern Oregon evened its season record with a convincing victory over Rocky Mountain to begin the Big Sky Invitational. The Blue and Gold attack fired on all cylinders, hitting at a .351 clip for the match including hitting over .400 in the final two sets.
The Mountaineers were dominant up front, piling on 12 blocks compared to Rocky Mountain’s three. Senior Madisen Garlie led the charge with seven block assists and one solo block. Sophomore Hailee Ackerman combined with Garlie for a tough combo, racking up six block assists.
Garlie was also strong on the attack, posting seven kills on 11 total attacks with no errors, adding up to a .636 hitting percentage. Senior Isabelle Statkus matched Garlie’s numbers with seven kills on the night and no errors. Senior Amanda Miller led the team with 10 kills.
Freshman Madison Pilon and junior Sarah Carpenter each reached the 20-assist plateau for the match. Pilon led the way with 24 assists and two service aces, while Carpenter dished out 20 assists.
Match 2 – No. 11 EOU 3, No. 14 Montana Tech 0 (28-26, 25-21, 25-22)
The Mounties faced an even tougher challenge in the nightcap, battling against No. 14 Montana Tech on their home court.
The Blue and Gold were up to the challenge, however, finding themselves in a dogfight in set one. The Mountaineers found themselves behind by as many as four points on multiple occasions in the opening set, but showed resolve to keep things close.
The team took its first lead of the set 18-17 before falling behind again 20-18. Later with the Orediggers on set point, EOU took the following two points on kills by Miller and sophomore Megan Bunn. The teams continued to trade points until the Mountaineers ultimately claimed the set 28-26 on a Montana Tech error.
Sets two and three continued to be close battles, but the Mountaineers were able to limit their mistakes to claim the sweep.
EOU hit .221 for the match, but held the Orediggers to a low .162 hitting percentage. Montana Tech had 24 attack errors along with 14 service errors that proved costly.
Garlie was once again a stalwart up front, recording six block assists and one solo block. Miller added four block assists followed by Bunn with three.
Defensively, freshman Kiley McMurtrey led the way with 14 digs, adding two assists. Pilon reached 20 assists once again, while Carpenter finished with 13.
The Mountaineers complete play at the Big Sky Invitational on Saturday with two matches. They face Montana State-Northern at 11 a.m. Mountain Time, followed by No. 10 Grand View at 3 p.m. MT.
Live statistics and video links will be available for both matches at eousports.com.
For more information on Eastern Oregon volleyball, follow @EOUAthletics or visit eousports.com.
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Contact: Iain Dexter; 541-962-3946; idexter@eou.edu