LA GRANDE, Ore. – On Senior Night at Eastern Oregon University, the No. 13 Eastern Oregon University volleyball team defeated No. 11 Southern Oregon University, 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-21, 26-24), Saturday night at Quinn Coliseum. With the win the Mountaineers moved into a tie for first place in the Cascade Collegiate Conference standings.
Kasundra Tuma led the Mountaineers with 17 kills, followed by
Emily Nay's 11.
Rachelle Chamberlain dished out a game-high 53 assists.
Jessalyn Smith recorded 28 digs. Motade Atanda recorded a game-high 21 kills for Southern Oregon.
Southern Oregon took control of set one early against EOU. The Raiders raced out to a quick, 11-4, lead. The Mountaineers slowly began to chip away and trimmed the Raiders lead to 14-9, after a Southern Oregon attack error.
The Mountaineers did not let SOU pull away again. With Southern Oregon ahead, 19-15, the Mountaineers took control of the set and scored seven straight points to take a 22-19 lead. Southern Oregon trimmed the lead to one point, 23-22, but EOU closed out the set by taking the final two points on kills by
Casey Loper and
Amanda Miller.
Eastern Oregon and Southern were locked early in the second set. With the scored tied at 6-6, EOU slowly started to pull away as they scored six straight, and 10 of the next 12 points, to hold an eight point advantage.
The Raiders had another idea and mounted a comeback. Southern Oregon scored the last nine of the ten points to take set two, 25-23, tying the match at 1-1. This was the first set, all season, the Mountaineers have dropped at Quinn Coliseum.
Like the first two sets, the Raiders and Mountaineers stayed locked in a tight battle as neither team held a lead over two points for the majority of the third set. With the game tied at 17-17, EOU started to pull away. The Mountaineers scored four straight points to take a 21-17 lead. After taking the lead, EOU did not trail again in the set and took set three, 25-21.
The close sets continued in the fourth, as there were 11 ties and three lead changes in the set. With the set tied at 13-13, Southern Oregon scored five points in a row to take an 18-13 lead. EOU responded and tied the set at 22-22. EOU scored the next two points to take a 24-22 lead but could not put the Raiders away as they battled back to tie the set at 24-24. The Mountaineers did not let the Raiders score another point and Nay capped off the victory for EOU with her 11th kill of the night. EOU claimed set four, 26-24.
EOU returns to action next Friday, Nov. 7 when they travel to Eugene, Ore. to face Northwest Christian at 7 p.m. Southern Oregon plays at home against Concordia.