SALEM, Ore. – Two sets into Saturday evening's matchup between the No. 13 Corban University volleyball team and No. 8-ranked Eastern Oregon Mountaineers, everything was in the Warriors' favor. With their backs against the wall down two sets to none, the Mountaineers mounted a shocking comeback to earn a five-set win over the Warriors (15-25, 22-25, 25-14, 27-25, 15-9), remaining unbeaten on the 2021 spring season.
"I was proud of how the team came out; we played tough," said Warrior head coach Kim McLain. "We struggled with our passing late in the match, and Eastern Oregon took advantage of it."
Prior to the game, Corban honored Cassie Cunningham as the squad's lone graduating senior. The 2019 NAIA All-American has been an integral part of the Warriors' success during her exceptional career.
The Navy and Gold was off and running early on in the contest, as they dominated the first set of the match. A six-point run gave the squad an early 8-3 advantage, and it never looked back en route to the 25-15 victory.
Set two was more of the same. Despite swinging at just a .176 mark, solid all-around defense and the ability to keep rallies alive resulted in an eight-point set-two victory for the Warriors.
With their backs against the wall in the third game, the Mountaineers attacked at an impressive .387 clip as a team to force a fourth set.
The Warriors were in control early in the fourth stanza, looking to hand EOU its first loss of the campaign. At one point, Corban led by a daunting 22-12 margin, sitting just three points away from a win.
The relentless Mountaineers had a different idea, however, as they managed to come all the way back to erase the deficit and force a fifth game, outscoring the Navy and Gold by a 15-3 margin to close the set.
With all the momentum in their favor, the Mounties capped off their impressive comeback with a 15-9 win in game five, stunning the Warriors inside of the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
Sade Williams (17 kills, .238 percentage, 21 digs), Breanna Shaffer (14 kills, .133 percentage), and Preslee Jensen (13 kills, .300 percentage) led the way in the come-from-behind triumph.
For the Warriors, Rylee Troutman collected a team-high 13 kills (.281 attack percentage), while Allyson Reid (.421 percentage) and Avari Ridgway (.020 percentage) each collected 10 putaways. For Reid, both her kill tally and hitting percentage represent new season highs.
Defensively, five players notched double-figure dig totals in the defeat, with Kealani Ontai finishing with a team-best 22. Doing the distributing, Ciarra Judson (23 assists) and Jadyn Mullen (21 assists) split the setting duties.
In a highly-anticipated weekend of action, the two five-set matches were as thrilling as advertised between the Warriors and Mountaineers, only adding further excitement for a potential postseason rematch of the two squads.
With the win, Eastern Oregon moves to 13-0 on the season (12-0 CCC), and has now officially clinched the right to host the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Tournament on April 9-10.
Meanwhile, Corban (9-3, 9-3 CCC) will wrap up its regular-season slate next weekend, traveling to Caldwell, Idaho to face off with College of Idaho on April 2-3.