Warriors Sweep Owls In CCC Tournament Semifinals to Advance to Championship Match
EOU Sports Information
LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Cascade Collegiate Conference Volleyball Tournament presented by U.S Bank got underway Friday afternoon inside Quinn Coliseum with a pair of semifinal matches. In the first matchup of the day, No. 2-seeded Corban took down No. 3-seeded Oregon Tech in straight sets (25-12, 26-24, 25-15) to advance to the Championship match on Saturday.
How it Happened
• The Warriors (11-4) secured the win with the combined help of stout offense and defense. They hit .351 for the match and held the Owls (12-6) to .049 for the afternoon. Corban also had the edge in total blocks, 6-3, and posted 43 kills while limiting OIT to 27.
• In the opening set, Corban and Oregon tech kept things fairly close with the Warriors holding a slim 4-3 lead. The Warriors then scored four straight to jump ahead 8-4. OIT looked to keep the score within reach but the Warriors had an answer on offense to stay in front.
• leading the way early on for the Warriors was Ally Tow who had six kills in the first half of the opening set. She paced the Warriors on offense to help them jump out to a 14-6 lead over OIT. The Owls' go to option early on was Nicole Reyes who had two kills in that span.
• The Owls tried to battle back after calling a timeout when they trailed 12-6, but a 7-0 run by Corban during that span gave the Warriors the 15-6 lead before OIT was able to score again. OIT had no answer as they were outscored 10-6 the rest of the way and fell 25-12 in the opening set.
• Set No. 2 was the closest of the night for the owls who forced extra points against the Warriors before falling 26-24. Corban managed to go ahead 6-2 early in the set, but the owls managed to keep the score within 3-4 points for much of the early half of the second set.
• OIT only trailed by three, 9-6, to Corban but an 8-2 scoring surge by the Warrior had the Owls in a 17-9 hole nearing the later portion of the set. Despite the eight-point lead for Corban, the Owls slowly chipped away at it to get back into the contest.
• The Warriors were able to hold the eight-point edge at 18-10 after getting up 17-9, but OIT rallied and scored four-straight to cut the Warriors’ lead to four, 18-14 and forced a timeout. The Owls eventually tied the match at 22-all to make things interesting late.
• Even with the match having a handful of ties late in the set, OIT never managed to grab the lead against Corban and fell by two. Leading the way for OIT in the near comeback was Faith Houck-Wylie who six kills in the set. On the flip side, Tow posted seven kills in the set to help Corban escape with the set win.
• The third and final set once again belonged to Corban who held OIT to under 20 points for the second time in the match. The Warriors raced out to a 7-0 lead before OIT got on the board and never looked back.
• The owls managed to cut the Warriors lead to four a few times in the early going but each time Corban had a response to stay in front. The last time the Owls got within four was at the midway point when it was 15-11.
• Corban called a timeout when it was 15-10 and out of the short break OIT made it a 15-11 game before the Warriors went on a7-1 run to go ahead 22-12. The Owls managed just three more points the rest of the way before ultimately falling 25-15 and bowing out of the CCC Tournament in straight sets.
Corban Stat Leaders
• Leading the way for the Warriors was Ally Tow with 13 kills as she hit .619 for the match. She also tallied two blocks in the win.
• Sarena Bartley was the only other player with double figure kills with 10 and hit .500. She also tallied two blocks to lead the front row.
• Avari Ridgway chipped in nine kills to go along with two blocks and three digs.
• Rylee Troutman posted seven kills and had four digs on the evening.
• Jadyn Mulled handed out 17 assists to lead all players, while Ciarra Judson dished out 14.
• Cora Furman anchored the front row defense with six blocks and had a trio of kills in the win.
• Kaelani Ontai had the most digs for Corban with eight to lead the back row.
Oregon Tech Stat Leaders
• Faith Houck-Wylie led the Hustlin’ Owls on offense with 11 kills and hit .200 in the match. She also had seven digs and three service aces.
• Nicole Reyes chipped in seven kills and led the defense in digs with a match-high of seven.
• Ashley Ripplinger led the front row defensively with two blocks and had four kills in the loss.
• Cassidy Brooke dished out a team best 13 assists, while Courtney Isom had eight. Broke also had a match-high four service aces.
Up Next
• Corban advances to the CCC Tournament Championship and will take on the winner of the second semifinal match between No. 1-seeded Eastern Oregon University and No. 4-seeded Bushnell University. Match time for the CCC Championship is set for a 4 p.m. PT first serve inside Quinn Coliseum.