No. 11 Mounties Top CMU in 5 Sets to Open NAIA Championships 11/27/2018 6:04:31 PM SIOUX CITY, Iowa. – Looking to advance past pool play for the fourth-straight year at the NAIA Volleyball Championships, the No. 11 Eastern Oregon volleyball team won a pivotal five-set match against No. 21 Central Methodist Tuesday at the Tyson Events Center. Playing in Pool F of the national tournament, the Mountaineers (24-7) were the No. 2 seed of their pool, facing off with the No. 3-seeded Eagles (31-7) in the opening game of the tourney for each squad. The top-two teams in each pool advance to the round of 16, single-elimination bracket, proving Tuesday’s matchup to be extremely important. The Mountaineers earned a first-set victory, but then fell behind 2-1 in the match after two rough sets. Needing to win the final two, EOU rallied to complete a comeback over the hopeful Eagles (25-21, 18-25, 14-25, 25-21, 15-10). The win improved EOU’s record in the national tournament to 12-7 all-time. “It is great to come away with the win on the first day of pool play,” said head coach Kaki McLean Morehead. “We had our work cut out for us against Central Methodist, who came ready to battle. We know the road ahead doesn’t get any easier, but it is a great start to pool play.” As a team, the Blue and Gold was nearly beaten in every statistical category, but still managed to earn the victory with a gritty performance. Central Methodist won the kills battle 69-54, digs 111-90 and outhit EOU .222 to .128. However, the Mounties had 13 blocks to match CMU’s and held a 9-1 advantage in service aces, which provided key momentum for Eastern. The Mounties out-swung the Eagles in sets one and five, but struggled to find a rhythm in the second and third sets. In set five, Eastern forced six Eagle errors with three on EOU blocks. The front row had a strong performance, led by seven total blocks (two solo, five assists) by junior Allyson Crisp. Junior Taylor Tibbetts had one solo and four block assists while freshman Jet Taylor added four block assists. On the attack, junior Megan Bunn led the team with 13 kills. She also added 22 digs for a double-double, three block assists, one ace and was a perfect 30-for-30 on reception attempts. Tibbetts added 10 kills, while junior Hailee Ackerman finished with eight and Crisp posted seven. From the service line, Ackerman led the team with four aces, while sophomore Kiley McMurtrey had three and senior Sarah Carpenter added one. McMurtrey paced the team with 25 digs. Sophomore Madison Pilon had a team-high 27 assists, adding 12 digs for a double-double. Carpenter also contributed with 17 assists. The Mountaineers have a quick turnaround, facing four-seeded Oklahoma City on Wednesday at 12 p.m. Central time, 10 a.m. Pacific time. The game will be live streamed on Pay-Per View at portal.stretchinternet.com/naia and will be available to watch in the EOU booster room in Quinn Coliseum. The Mounties finish up pool play on Thursday against No. 6 Lindsey Wilson. For more information on Eastern Oregon volleyball, follow @EOUAthletics or visit eousports.com. FOLLOW EOU ATHLETICS Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube Contact: Iain Dexter; 541-962-3946; idexter@eou.edu