College Place, Wash. – The No. 12-ranked Eastern Oregon University (EOU) Mountaineers were in College Place this evening for a match against the Walla Walla Wolves on Thursday evening. This was the second matchup between Walla Walla (0-19, 0-18 CCC) and the Mountaineers (21-5, 16-2 CCC), with EOU taking the first match back in September. The Wolves would give the Mountaineers a fight in front of their home crowd, however, the No. 12-ranked team would ride a balanced attack en route to a straight set victory over the Wolves. (25-20, 25-14, 25-18)
In set one, the Wolves would start off strong as Caldora Blackburn and Morgan Doyle would each pick up blocks to give the Wolves an early 4-1 lead. The Wolves and Mountaineers would go back-and-forth providing some entertaining rallies with the Wolves sitting at an 11-10 advantage. The Wolves would continue holding onto their slim lead as they continued to cover and find the open spots in the Mountaineers defense. With a 19-17 lead, the Mountaineers would take advantage of some Wolves errors and take their first lead since scoring the first point of the set, 20-19 and force head coach Scott Schaefer to take a timeout. Coming out of the timeout the Mountaineers would ride their momentum en route to a 25-20 set one victory over the scrappy Wolves.
Set two would see the road team Mountaineers continue their set one victory momentum and start off with a quick 3-0 lead. The Mountaineers would extend their early lead to 5-1 and force the Wolves to take a timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Mountaineers would continue riding their momentum on a team approach, extending their lead over the Wolves 13-3. The Wolves would pick up their play and provide some nicely placed kills via Sarah Halversen and Morgan Doyle, however, the Wolves could not overcome the lead the Mountaineers built early on in the set and would fall 25-14.
Set three would start off with the Mountaineers scoring the first four points as Alysson Crisp would pick up two kills to provide an early spark for the visiting team. The Mountaineers would continue to hold the lead while holding off the scrappy Wolves from getting any real momentum. With the score 13-17, EOU errors would ignite a 5-1 run for the Wolves to knot the set up at 18. The Mountaineers would respond with a timely 7-0 run and take the decisive set and claim victory in the match in straight sets. (25-20, 25-14, 25-18)
By the Numbers
WWU 27 kills, EOU 42 kills
WWU 26 assists, EOU 40 assists
WWU 68 digs, EOU 72 digs
The Wolves will look to turn the page quickly, as they host the College of Idaho on their senior night on Saturday, November 3 at 7 p.m. on Windemuth Court.
As for the No. 12-ranked Mountaineers, they will travel home for their senior night for a matchup with the No. 16-ranked Yotes of College of Idaho for a battle between top-20 teams. The match will take place tomorrow evening at the Quinn Coliseum.