Volleyball 12/6/2019 11:56:00 AM Iain Dexter, EOU Sports Information Director EOU Volleyball Season Ends in Round of 16 vs. Westmont SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Playing in the early match of the day for the second time in the tourney, the No. 7 Eastern Oregon volleyball team was unable to keep its season going, falling in four sets (22-25, 26-24, 19-25, 23-25) in the round of 16 at the NAIA Championships. A dark horse of the national tournament, Westmont College (29-7) came into Friday morning's match on a roll, earning the No. 1-seed from Pool H despite entering the tourney unranked. The Warriors kept their momentum against EOU, hitting .223 and out-blocking the Mounties 11-10. The Mountaineers (31-5) exerted a large amount of energy on Thursday in the five-set thriller against Lindsey Wilson, and could not find their top level against the Warriors. EOU hit .178 for the match with 23 errors to 62 kills. Senior Megan Bunn led the offense with 15 kills, her fourth game in a row with at least 15, but had 10 errors resulting in a .078 hitting percentage. On defense, however, she led the team with a career-high 32 digs. Fellow senior Hailee Ackerman wrapped up her career with 14 kills and eight digs, hitting .234 from the floor. Sophomore Cambree Scott posted 12 kills and eight total blocks, while sophomore Jet Taylor had 11 kills. Senior Taylor Tibbets had six kills and four blocks. After Bunn, junior Kiley McMurtrey recorded 30 digs. Junior Aspen Christiansen chipped in with 17 and freshman Sade Williams had 15. Junior Madison Pilon posted 53 assists and nine digs. Both teams continued to trade long runs during the whole match, with Westmont generally finishing the sets on their runs. The first set was full of back-and-forth runs. With the score tied 9-9, the Warriors scored five in a row to make it 14-9. EOU answered with five of their own to tie the score again. Down 20-17, the Mounties rolled off four-straight points to make the score 21-20. Westmont then answered with five of six points to win the first set 25-22. EOU got off to a 6-0 lead in set two, leading later 11-5. Westmont came storming back with six points in a row and later took an 18-15 lead. The Warriors continued to maintain a small leading, getting to set point at 24-21. After a timeout though, the Mounties scored five points straight to win the set 26-24. The Blue and Gold could not use the momentum for the third set as Westmont never trailed, taking a 2-1 lead in the match with a convincing 25-19 win. After trailing for most of the fourth set, EOU battled to tie the score late at 23-23. However, the Warriors took the final two points to win 25-23 and claim the match to advance to the quarterfinals. The Mountaineers put a final stamp on another successful year, reaching the national tournament for a six-straight year, finishing in the top-16 nationally, winning over 30 games and claiming a share of their fifth CCC regular season championship. EOU will say farewell to its four seniors in Bunn, Ackerman, Tibbetts and Nina Bailey. Bunn and Ackerman will go down as one of the top hitting duos in program history, each playing four years for the Mounties. Bunn ranks second all-time in career kills in EOU history with 1,316 and is the only player with 1,000 kills and 900 or more digs. She also owns the single-game kills record after posting 32 on Thursday. Ackerman finishes 11th all-time in kills for EOU despite an injury that cost her much of 2019. The former All-American finishes with 759 career kills. 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