Eastern Oregon Rallies at Northwest
KIRKLAND – Northwest took the first set and led No. 3 Eastern Oregon 19-16 in the second set before the Mountaineers recovered for a 3-1 victory Friday 24-26, 25-21, 25-17, 25-20.
Megan Bunn led EOU with 22 kills and added 25 digs for the double-double. Madison Pilon amassed 50 assists for the Mountaineers.
Keann White led NU with 11 kills, with Courteney Carr and Anna Saelens distributing 18 and 15 assists, respectively.
Cristina Hegarty had 21 digs, and Hannah Michaels added 12, while Kylie Szczepanski led the Northwest front with six blocks.
“Eastern Oregon is a complete team in every phase of the game, and their relentless defensive effort was especially impressive,” said NU Head Coach Steve Bain. “As a result, they scored more points than us in transition, and that was the difference in the match. Still, I liked our physical effort, and our ladies played with good emotional energy. Those are two elements that we can build on, and we will need to have them in place as we have another very tough opponent in our gym tomorrow night.”
The Eagles were down 15-10 and faced set point at 24-22 before rolling off four unanswered points. White, Szczepanski, and Tatiana Ensz had kills in the run that ended with an EOU attack error.
Northwest methodically built a 19-16 lead in the second set, but the Mountaineers scored the next six points, including two kills by Bunn and two aces by Kiley McMurtrey for a 22-19 lead.
Eastern Oregon broke away late again in the third set, scoring the final seven points in what had been a one-point game.
Down 23-16 in the final set, the Eagles strung together four straight points, with White producing a pair of kills, but the rally stopped with the Eagles trailing 23-20.
Northwest dipped to 11-11 overall and 9-7 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, while Eastern improved to 24-1 and 14-1.
The Eagles host College of Idaho Saturday at 5 p.m.