EUGENE, Ore. – Today was the perfect opportunity for the No. 1-ranked Corban University Beach Volleyball team (6-2) to try out some new pair partners in a midweek rivalry contest hosted by Bushnell University (3-2), as the Warriors saw two new pairs and a familiar one from the 2022 season in their 5-0 sweep of the Beacons.

"Tonight, we had a good road win against a solid Bushnell team," Corban Head Coach Diana Villalpando started off with sharing on her team's performance this evening. "It's always hard as a team to travel for a few hours and then hop out of the van or bus and turn it on almost immediately."

Villalpando continued by sharing, "With an injury on the team, we had to make some pair switches for this week's games and both pairs affected showed great promise. They made key adjustments to pull out their wins. It's always a good thing when you have depth in a roster, and this year we have just that."

In their first solo dual matchup of the season, the Navy and Gold flew to the finish line this afternoon at the Amazon Park Sand Volleyball Courts against their I-5 rivals by not dropping a single set to the Beacons in their second full year as a varsity sponsored sport, with the highest point totals of the afternoon coming in the battle of the No. 2 pairs.

Prior to the family reunion in the final flight of the day, the match kicked off with a 2-0 set victory for the top pair in the Corban roster, as senior Avari Ridgway and sophomore Megan Dennis cruised to 21-17 and 21-14 set scores against Bushnell's Makenna Northern and Logan Kaneshiro. This now gives the duo a 6-1 record on the year, one of the best records by a single pair in the nation.

A new pairing took to the court in the No. 3 pair for Corban this afternoon as sophomore Maya Blake and senior Kealani Ontai partnered up to take down the Beacons' duo of Brooke Silvernail and Jadeya Hayes, taking a hard-fought first set 21-18 before a respectable 21-13 win to close out the flight.

The usual No. 4 pairs of senior Ally Schmidt and sophomore Jessica McMillian posted identical set scores of their previously recapped teammates with 21-18 and 21-13 decisions over Laci Jespersen and Halle Neumann, before freshman Emmi Marks and senior Tyra Ching flew to a 21-12 and 21-9 two-set victory in the No. 5 pairs to go 1-0 on the season as partners, defeating Bushnell's Anessa Stotts and Abigail Nelson.

Finally, with all eyes on the No. 2 pairs to close out the day, the Keeling sisters of Kianna and Cameron reunited for the first time since the 2022 season, narrowly defeating Beacons' Madi Trueblood and Roslyn McLellan 21-19 in the opening set before handling the second set with ease, 21-12.

The full results from today's matchups can be found below:

Corban University 5, Bushnell 0

1. Avari Ridgway/Megan Dennis (CRB) def. Makenna Northern/Logan Kaneshiro (BU) 21-17, 21-14

2. Kiana Keeling/Cameron Keeling (CRB) def. Madi Trueblood/Roslyn McLellan (BU) 21-19, 21-12

3. Maya Blake/Kealani Ontai (CRB) def. Brooke Silvernail/Jadeya Hayes (BU) 21-18, 21-13

4. Jessica McMillian/Ally Schmidt (CRB) def. Laci Jespersen/Halle Neumann (BU) 21-18, 21-13

5. Emmi Marks/Tyra Ching (CRB) def. Anessa Stotts/Abigail Nelson (BU) 21-12, 21-9

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,4,5,2)

Corban Beach Volleyball will next compete in a tourney hosted by Southern Oregon University this upcoming Sunday, where they will only play the Raiders (2-3) in a 1pm PST dual start time.

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