BUTTE, Mont. - Eastern Oregon University Volleyball followed up their strong performance against No. 5 Midland University with two more on day two of the Big Sky Challenge. The Mountaineers took on No. 2 University of Jamestown and the Frontier Conference's Carroll College to end their opening weekend. The Mounties won both.
"I am incredibly proud of our team and their ability to battle back after our first loss," Head Coach Kaki McLean Morehead said. "We wanted to have a preseason that would push us to be better and grow at a rapid pace and so far we have accomplished that."
The highlight of the day was the four-set win over No. 2 ranked University of Jamestown. EOU and Jamestown are no strangers having met in the national tournament during the 2020 season.
EOU sits at 3-1 after their opening weekend at the Big Sky Challenge. Next weekend, the Mountaineers will head to Missouri for the Hampton Inn Classic. They will continue their early season trend of taking on the nation's top teams when they start off the tournament with No. 25 Ottawa (Kan.) on Friday, Aug. 26 at 8 a.m.
GAME 1
Just a day after taking down the No. 5 team in the nation, Eastern Oregon University Volleyball one-upped themselves with a massive win over No. 2 ranked University of Jamestown Friday afternoon in Butte, Mont. at the Big Sky Challenge. The Mountaineers took three of four sets, 25-13, 17-25, 27-25, 25-17.
The match started out with a split in the first two sets, each team taking their sets comfortably. The turning point in the match was a crucial third set that went the distance. The biggest lead either team held in the set was three points when the Mounties held a 20-17 lead. The two heavy hitters were neck and neck until a Cambree Scott kill and attack error by Jamestown's Kalli Hegerle allowed EOU to take the set 27-25.
Eastern Oregon pulled away in the fourth to secure an eight-point set win clinching the match victory. Statistically, the two teams played a close match with the biggest advantage going to the Mounties in service errors. EOU was able to play a clean game with only five service errors to Jamestown's 18.
Offensively the Mountaineers relied on a balanced attack led by Sade Williams and Preslee Jensen who had 10 and nine kills respectively. Alexis McMurtrey bolstered the Mountaineer attack with 23 assists and two service aces as well. From a defensive standpoint EOU relied on libero Hailey Arritola, who came up big with 15 digs.
GAME 2
Eastern Oregon took their momentum from the last two games with them into their fourth and final game of the Big Sky Challenge on Friday evening in Butte Montana. They finished the tournament with their second sweep of the season beating Carroll College in three, 25-22, 25-19, 25-23.
Eastern started off slow in the first two sets trailing until the two teams evened out around the 15 point mark in both sets. From there EOU slowly pulled away, taking the first set 25-22, and widening that margin in the second set, winning 25-19. The third set was a different story with EOU jumping out to a comfortable lead in the beginning scoring eight of the first 10 points. Carroll clawed its way back into it taking the lead at 23-22. A quick EOU timeout was all the Mounties needed, sparking them to three points in three plays to take the third set and clinch the sweep.
Preslee Jensen continued her impressive run of offensive dominance cracking the double digits once again in kills with 13, scoring 14.5 points and hitting at a .360 clip. Cambree Scott followed suit with eight kills of her own. Alexis McMurtrey and Hannah Ledgerwood had big games as facilitators with 20 and 18 assists respectively. Defensively, Sade Williams had another big game with 17 digs followed by Hailey Arritola with 14.