SALEM, Ore. – Despite a valiant blocking effort by the Oregon Tech Owls on Friday night, the Corban University volleyball team registered a straight-set sweep over the Owls in a commanding win (25-18, 25-23, 25-23). The triumph is Corban's sixth-straight in CCC play and secures Corban at least fifth place in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC), while Oregon Tech's playoff lives will be on the line tomorrow evening at Northwest Christian University.
Click 'Play Button' on photo above to watch match highlights from the thrilling win.
"I am very proud of how the girls came out to play tonight," said Corban head coach Kim McLain. "Every single girl on the Corban team earned this match due to the fact of how they push each other in practice every day!"
With the victory, Corban keeps its hopes alive at still hosting a CCC Tournament quarterfinal match, and will need to defeat No. 15 Southern Oregon University tomorrow night at 5 p.m., while also needing Northwest University to lose to Warner Pacific. If that scenario occurs, Corban will be the No. 4 seed and host Northwest, while if the Eagles win tomorrow night, they will host Corban on Tuesday night in a quarterfinal matchup.
While Oregon Tech (14-11, 9-10 CCC) jumped out to leads in each set on the evening, the familiar theme of the match was Corban coming back and securing wins in each set. The first set was fairly comfortable for the Warriors with a .238 hitting percentage in the seven-point set win, while sets two and three took both teams to the brink. Corban finished strong in both stanzas, however, not wanting to repeat what happened back in early September in a five-set loss to the Owls.
In that final and deciding set, the Owls took a 22-16 lead thanks to a pair of kills from Kelsey Sampson, but Corban then used a furious 9-1 run to close out the stanza and win the match in thrilling fashion. A few Warrior blocks and a pair of kills from Warrior sophomore outside-hitter Amber Parker (Albany, Ore.) secured the comeback win, sending the crowd into a frenzy after Parker's final kill to win the match.
Corban is now 8-1 overall on the year at home and is hitting its stride at just the right time while riding its six-match winning streak.
Parker racked up a team-best 26 kills, while Warrior freshman setter Madison McLain (Albany, Ore.) totaled 39 assists on the evening. A big defensive performance came from freshman outside-hitter Victoria Schroeder (Corvallis, Ore.), as she recorded a team-best 18 digs while adding four kills as well. In addition, sophomore libero Haley Wells (Albany, Ore.) notched 17 digs on the night. Moreover, sophomore Sloane Morrison (Edmonds, Wash.) registered an efficient .467 attack percentage.
Following the win, McLain talked about the exciting triumph in a post-match interview:
Sampson totaled 16 kills to lead the way for Owls, while Tori Porter recorded 17 assists. Defensively, the Owls totaled a game-high 13 blocks as a team.
Corban (14-11, 12-7 CCC) now boasts 12 wins in conference play for the first time since 2003 and will host No. 15 Southern Oregon tomorrow evening on Senior Night. Warrior senior Kelsey Wright (Beaverton, Ore.) will be honored prior to the start of the match. First serve is set for 5 p.m. Be sure to follow the action via the live stats and live video broadcast.
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