SALEM, Ore. – The regular season finale for the No. 6-ranked Corban University Volleyball team resulted in the same clinching scenario they were handed last season in which they finished the postseason as the NAIA national runner-up program, as the Warriors needed four sets to clinch the No. 2-seed in next week's Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Tournament with a 26-24, 23-25, 25-16, and 25-15 set score victory over Oregon Tech.
"It felt good to get back out on the hardwood tonight continuing this journey," Warriors' head coach Kim McLain said shortly after their home finale. "I liked how we responded! It made all the difference getting our middles involved, making it easier on our pins. We are looking forward to getting back in the gym this week and put in the work as we head into the conference tournament."
Prior to the start of tonight's match, the Corban Volleyball program honored a single senior student-athlete who will be hanging up the knee pads at the conclusion of the 2023 season. Outside hitter Rylee Troutman, who despite having an extra season of eligibility under her belt thanks to her first season being shortened by the Covid-19 pandemic, was celebrated tonight for the incredible impact that she has had on the Warrior volleyball program and the rest of the conference. Entering the night as the odds-on favorite to repeat as the CCC Player of the Year, Troutman will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest to ever wear the navy and gold threads.
After dropping a five-set heartbreaker on their home court last night to No. 16-ranked Southern Oregon University, the Warriors (25-5, 19-3) entered tonight's match with a much different mentality against an OIT squad (12-17, 10-12) that took them to five sets on the Owls' home court back in September. A truckload of unforced errors against SOU resulted in Corban's first home loss to the Raiders since 2015, and Coach McLain and her team wasn't about to see another conference opponent break their losing streak on Tim Hills Court.
The offense was back in full force tonight for the Navy and Gold, as they opened the first set with 20 of 26 points being scored via Warrior kills, and even a last second comeback bid by Oregon Tech was thwarted thanks to Corban's high-octane gameplan.
However, the Owls weren't about to roll over that easily tonight in a match that they needed to win in order to keep the seventh overall seed in the CCC Tournament, which they were able to keep anyways thanks to Lewis-Clark State College's loss earlier today. Despite being locked into their seeding, OIT was able to eke out a 25-23 set two victory by beating the Warriors at their own defensive game, as five of the team's six blocking plays all came in the second set to even the playing field at a set apiece.
In the third period of play, Corban better utilized their middle blockers to an exceptional advantage, jumping out to a 13-7 lead and over half of those points coming from the center of the net. An OIT timeout at the 19-13 deficit didn't prove to swing momentum back into their favor either, as the Owls managed just three more points the entire set and Corban was able to seal the set with a kill from who else but Troutman.
Each program held their own through the first few rallies of the fourth set, but a six-point run by the Warriors was just too much of a deficit for the Owls to overcome, allowing Corban to secure the regular season ending win and conclude this year's conference schedule with a 19-3 overall record.
Troutman put together her eleventh double-double of the season to help lead her team to victory, as she dropped a game-high 16 kills and added 19 digs in the backcourt. Junior middle blocker Allyson Reid had one of her best offensive showings to date for Corban, as she smashed a career-high 16 kills to tie Troutman for the game-high mark on a .414 kill percentage.
Junior setter Courtney Garwood has continued to show improvement every single game for the Warriors since Coach McLain tested her in the starting reserves, as she earned a well-deserved double-double this evening with 24 assists and 13 digs, the latter of which is a career-high mark for the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho native. After a rough result against the Raiders, sophomore setter Abby Guindy rebounded with refinement and dealt out a game-high 31 dimes and added six digs.
As to be expected with the backcourt BFFs that started the same season under Coach McLain's leadership, junior libero Marissa Uehara had to match Troutman in the final dig count with 19 of her own, while redshirt sophomore middle blocker Jadah Schmidtke was responsible for nearly half of the Warriors' blocking plays with six block assists.
Owls' opposite hitter Savanna Sterck was a force to be reckoned with tonight, as she led her team with 15 kills and committed just two errors all night, adding a trio of digs as well. Outside hitter Willow Jacobson added ten kills offensively, while libero Kaley Whalen was the defensive star with a game-high 20 digs. Setters Brooke Cassidy and Paige Tevelde shared the assisting workload to the tune of 23 and 14 dimes, respectively.
With the second overall seed in next week's CCC Tournament giving the team a quarterfinal round bye, the Warriors will await the result of the morning sessions to see who their opponent will be in the 4pm semifinal slot on Friday, November 10th at Quinn Coliseum in La Grande, Oregon.
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