SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The No. 1 ranked Mountaineers ended No. 20 Cornerstone's 34 match win streak in dominant fashion Friday morning. EOU swept cornerstone in three straight sets 25-21, 25-17, 25-20. With the win Eastern Oregon has clinched their spot in the quarterfinals where they will take on No. 21 Marian University tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. CST.
In the first set the Mountaineers jumped out to an early lead at 3-2 and never gave it up. The Mountaineers slowly pulled away holding onto the lead the rest of the way taking the set thanks to a couple of Cornerstone errors, 25-21.
The second set was EOU's most dominant of the day as they took control early with a 7-2 run. A Madison Morgan kill put EOU up by double digits for the first time of the day at 18-8. With the Mounties up 10 and ready to put Cornerstone away, the Golden Eagles scored four-straight to make it 23-17. A Cambree Scott kill and Cornerstone error gave the Mounties a 25-17 second set victory where they hit an impressive .325 with 16 kills.
Just a set away from the sweep, Eastern stalled out of the gates in the third set. The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead early. From there the Mountaineers went on a 13-4 run to retake the lead thanks in part to four Kara Clayton kills. Eastern maintained their lead all the way to the 20-point mark thanks to a small four-point run making it 20-12. Cornerstone responded with five straight points of their own, three coming on kills. Some back-and-forth action led to a Cambree Scott kill to put the Golden Eagles away, giving the Mounties a 25-20 set victory.
The win clinched the Mountaineers' spot in the quarterfinals starting tomorrow, Saturday Dec. 3. The No. 1 seeded Mounties are slated to take on the winner of Pool H, No. 21 Marian University. First serve is set for 11 a.m. CST at the Tyson Events Center.
BY THE NUMBERS
- After having one of their best games at the service line to open pool play, the Mountaineers had no service aces while Cornerstone tallied three
- Eastern outhit Cornerstone with eight more kills hitting .231 to CU's .170
- The Mounties held a narrow advantage in blocks with nine to Cornerstone's eight
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
- EOU
- Cambree Scott: 9 kills, .333 hitting percentage, 6 blocks, 1 dig
- Kara Clayton: 9 kills, .375 hitting percentage, 3 blocks
- Sade Williams: 9 kills, .208 hitting percentage, 9 digs, 2 blocks
- CU
- Rylie Walters: 10 kills, .296 hitting percentage, 2 blocks, 3 digs
- Aubrie Lenz: 30 assists, 2 kills, 3 blocks, 6 digs