LA GRANDE, Ore. – The No. 12 Eastern Oregon University Volleyball team continued its winning ways at Quinn Coliseum on Friday night as the Mountaineers defeated the No. 20 Concordia University Cavaliers, 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-10). EOU has won 16 straight matches at home.
The win for EOU (22-3, 12-1 CCC) makes head coach Kaki Morehead the all-time winningest coach in EOU volleyball history. Taylor Stewart led the way a game-high 14 kills and Stefani Sorensen followed with 13 kills for EOU. Mariah Raudsepp led the way for Concordia with 13 kills.
EOU and Concordia (18-4, 11-3 CCC) stayed locked in a tight first set of the match. After the first 17 points of the set, Concordia held a 10-7 lead. The Cavaliers looked as if they were going to take control of set one as they scored the next four points to take an, 14-8 lead over EOU.
EOU found themselves down, 18-13, in set one before scoring the next four points to find themselves down one point, 18-17. Eastern Oregon continued to battle but could not tie the match and the Cavaliers took set one, 25-22.
Set two was a back and forth set as each time the Mountaineers or Cavaliers were ahead by two points, the other team came back to tie the set. With the score tied at 19, EOU scored the next five points, to give them the first lead of the set that was more than two points, 24-19. EOU took set two, 25-20.
EOU started out strong in the third set as the Mountaineers raced out to a 4-1 lead. However the Cavaliers were not going to go away quietly as they mounted a comeback and tied the set at five.
With Concordia ahead, 6-5, Eastern Oregon went on a 12-1 run to break the set wide open. After the run the Mountaineers led 17-7. Concordia could not find a way to come back in the set and dropped the third set 25-18.
The fourth set belonged to the Mountaineers. After trading leads early in the set, EOU found themselves down 4-3. At this point Eastern Oregon scored the 16 of the next 18 points, to take a, 19-6, lead over Concordia. Eastern Oregon continued to dominate the set and EOU took the set 25-10 and the match 3-1.
EOU returns to action tomorrow when they host Warner Pacific at 7 p.m. Tomorrow at EOU it is Dig Pink and fans who wear pink will receive three dollar admission to the game. Concordia travels to College of Idaho to face the Yotes at 6 p.m. PT.