LA GRANDE, Ore. – The No. 9-ranked Corban University Volleyball team saw their seven-game winning streak snapped today at the hands of No. 4-ranked Eastern Oregon University, where the Warriors looked atypical throughout the three-set road sweep where they struggled to find any consistency from both their offensive and defensive play. The Mountaineers (20-2, 12-2) completed the season sweep of the Warriors (17-3, 13-2) via 25-21, 25-18, and 25-21 set scores, yet the Navy and Gold still remain atop the conference standings via tiebreaker over No. 5-ranked Southern Oregon University as their second matchup looms next Saturday in Salem.
Eastern Oregon took advantage of numerous unforced errors by Corban in all three sets to build large leads on their home court, as the Warriors metaphorically shot themselves in the foot time after time again to suffer their second conference loss of the season with less than a month remaining in the regular season.
The beginning of the third set was the most consistent gameplay of the evening for the Navy and Gold, as they held an 8-3 lead before the unexpected miscues picked back up, allowing EOU to right their gameplay and eventually clinch only the second sweep of Corban volleyball in the past eight head-to-head matchups.
All of the Warriors' top three attackers throughout the regular season thus far were held to a negative attacking percentage after the Mounties won the battle at the net, swatting back 11 blocks over the net compared to just two for Corban. Redshirt junior middle blocker Jadah Schmidtke was one of few offensive threats for the Navy and Gold tonight, as she compiled seven kills on ten attacks and no errors for a .700 kill percentage. Junior opposite hitter Gracie Boeder was also errorless on the night, adding four kills on eight attempts.
Senior libero Marissa Uehara was all over the backcourt for the Warriors, compiling 17 digs to lead all players on both sides of the net despite a well-defended outing from the Eastern Oregon defensive specialists. Additionally, junior setter Abby Guindy and sophomore setter Nadeiah Howard dished out 15 and 14 assists, respectively.
Mountaineers' middle blocker Kiauna Mack fell a single kill shy of a double-double thanks to a massive presence at the net, as she racked up ten block assists to represent all but one of the total EOU blocks for the match. Opposite hitter Ashton Bales tied Mack for the game-high attacking mark with nine kills and just one assist, libero Hailey Arritola compiled 12 digs, and setter Alexis McMurtrey dealt 19 dimes for the match-best mark.
The No. 9-ranked Corban volleyball team will look to start a new winning streak tomorrow afternoon on the road against No. 22-ranked College of Idaho (12-10, 8-6) at 4pm MT/3pm PT.
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