KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Another night of solid offensive performances around the court led to the No. 6 Corban University Women's Volleyball team (12-2, 5-1) sweeping the hosting Hustlin' Owls of Oregon Tech (6-6, 3-3) on Friday night in three sets, 25-20, 25-20, and 26-24.
"OIT is a very good team," Corban Head Coach Kim McLain said following their bout with the Owls.
"We knew we had to focus on one point at a time, keeping our unforced errors to a minimum, serve tough, and attack aggressively at the pins. Our defense both at the net and in the back court stepped up, and made a huge difference tonight," McLain went on to share.
The Owls have had a roller-coaster of a season thus far, with both the lows of dropping their first two contests of the year and sitting just above a .500 winning percentage going into tonight's contest, and the highs of knocking off No. 17 Southern Oregon University on the road earlier this week for the Raiders' first conference loss of the 2022 season.
With that being said, Corban's three-set victory didn't come easily on Danny Miles Court tonight, as Oregon Tech fought tooth and nail to keep each set as tightly contested as possible.
Early momentum is ultimately what provided the Warriors with their fifth straight win, as a 9-2 run to begin set number one offered Corban the confidence they needed to hold the Owls at bay most of the evening. Despite Oregon Tech's fight to take a 18-17 lead over the Warriors late in the set, four-straight points from Corban, including back-to-back kills from sophomore outside hitter Rylee Troutman, put the Owls in a position they couldn't reconcile. Another set of kills from Troutman, followed by a kill from freshman opposite hitter Makayla Roginski concluded the first set at 25-20.
Another duo of early length runs in the second set gave the Warriors 12-7 and 17-11 leads, both of which forced Oregon Tech to call each of their allotted timeouts to rethink their gameplan. With Corban leading 23-17, the Owls attempted to take back the momentum with three-straight points, but a kill from Troutman followed by her only service ace of the evening resulted in another 25-20 set decision.
The third and final set was by far the hardest won set of the evening for the Warriors, as neither team posted more than three-straight points until the final stretch, when the Owls attempted a final gambit. With their backs against the wall, Oregon Tech fought back in the third set to pull within a point of the Warriors at 21-22, and even tied the game at 24-all before a service error and attacking error resulted in the extra-point 26-24 set three and match win for Corban.
Troutman led the Warriors offensively with 16 kills and just three errors, boosting her season attacking percentage once again with a .371 tonight. Senior outside hitter Avari Ridgway posted the only double-double of the night with 13 kills and 12 digs, while Roginski added 11 kills on the opposite side.
Senior setter Jadyn Mullen posted a game-high 26 assists to lead the Warriors' offense to 50 total team kills. Senior libero Kealani Ontai secured 18 digs and senior opposite hitter Ally Schmidt knocked back a solo block and three assisted blocks to both lead all Corban student-athletes defensively.
Owls' outside hitter Kaylin Talonen led all players with 21 kills and just a trio of errors, while middle blocker Ashley Ripplinger pitched in 10 kills of her own. Setter Courtney Isom set a team-high 23 assists, and libero Aubrey Kievit dug out a game-high 19 digs.
The Warriors jump back into Top 25 matchups tomorrow night, as they travel to face the No. 17 Southern Oregon University Raiders in Ashland, Ore. for a 7pm PDT start time.
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