SALEM, Ore. – Warrior Nation attendees at the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center tonight witnessed a Senior Day match for the ages, as the No. 8-ranked Corban University Volleyball team fought off a 2-0 set deficit to complete a reverse sweep (23-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-20, and 19-17) of Northwest University while honoring their six senior student-athletes in their final regular season home game of their collegiate careers. Both programs would hold match point opportunities in the fifth set, while the visiting team would pull within five points of adding a massive road sweep to their 2024 resume.
"Initially, our passing struggled, leading to some challenging moments on the court," Corban head coach Kim McLain detailed. "NU was passing well, allowing their offense to play in system. I was proud of the team working on the little things and focusing on our defense when we finally found our rhythm, ultimately finishing strong. Our resilience and teamwork were key in overcoming the early obstacles and clinching the win after honoring our incredible seniors."
Corban honored six senior student-athletes for their dedication and commitment to the volleyball program prior to the start of today's match, as middle blocker Allyson Reid, libero Marissa Uehara, setter Courtney Garwood, opposite hitter Kylie Davey, middle blocker Jadah Schmidtke, and student assistant Lily Snook all participated in their final regular season home match this season and for their women's volleyball careers.
A nearly identical stat sheet between the Warriors (21-4, 17-3) and Eagles (12-16, 7-13) came down to wire in their second Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) match of the season, as the two squads put up a 69-67 margin in kills, 63-62 in assists, and 93-56 in digs with equal amounts of service aces (8) and blocks (8) exchanged during their five-set marathon.
The opening set was a back-and-forth exchange between the CCC opponents before Northwest took charge following a Warrior point to lead 17-16 before the Eagles rattled off six-straight points and forced both of Coach McLain's timeouts. The Navy and gold would battle back to pull within a point at 24-23, yet a kill from Eagles' opposite hitter Delaney Sparks following a Northwest timeout would seal the first set victory for NU.
First set scares are something Warrior fans have grown accustomed to with the Warriors' having secured five of their 21 victories this season after losing the opening set, yet only once before having dropped both the first and second sets and still rebounded to take the match in five sets. Another late rally from the Eagles in the second set had Corban scrambling for answers at 22-16, with Northwest eventually pushing their match lead to a single set away from victory via a convincing 25-19 win.
At 20-18 in the third, Northwest's opposite hitter Aubree Dees had just connected on another kill for the visiting team and saw the Eagles' momentum at an all-time high on Tim Hills Court, needing just five points to complete the upset of the season within the CCC over a nationally ranked Corban program.
However, with senior night tears having already been shed, the Warriors finally awoke with their backs against the wall and denied the Eagles a road sweep, scoring four-straight points and utilizing a 7-2 run that concluded with a rare NU attacking error.
The fourth set was the first period all night where the Navy and Gold demonstrated their ability to take over a match in crunch time, as they broke a 17-all tie with five-consecutive points and cruised to a 25-20 set win that would set the Warriors up for their fifth five-set match on their home court this season.
Neither team could stretch their lead to anything further than two points through the entirety of the extra-point fifth set, as they exchanged points on 16 different occasions in an eventual 19-17 victory for Corban. Sophomore outside hitter Emma Bischoff provided the Warriors with their first match point opportunity at 14-12 with a timely kill, before Sparks and an attacking error by Bischoff flipped the Warriors' two-point lead into a 14-14 tie that would need extra points to be settled in a two-hour and forty-minute affair.
Following a kill from Reid, Northwest kills by Dees and outside hitter Kaitlyn Mickle put Warrior Nation fans on their heels now trailing 16-15 on their home court, which was quickly stopped thanks to a timeout by Coach McLain. Bischoff responded with a kill and service ace on back-to-back plays for their third match point opportunity, yet an attacking error knotted the set at 17-all once again.
A long rally that fell in favor of the Warriors was punctuated by a kill from sophomore outside hitter Kendra Bittle, who smashed a set attempt by Reid after junior setter Abby Guindy was forced to dig the incoming Eagle attack, thus trading her middle blocking position for a beautiful jump set that was followed by a long applause from the Corban fans in attendance. Bittle and Reid's connection would stand to represent the final kill of the game, as an NU attacking error settled the dust in a marathon contest at the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
Warriors' junior opposite hitter Makayla Roginski was dominant in her Saturday night performance, as she clobbered a career-high 20 kills on a .333 kill percentage along with the game-high block assist mark at five. Bischoff added 14 kills and 13 digs in the backcourt, securing two service aces along the way for yet another double-double on the year. Bittle and Schmidtke tallied nine more kills apiece.
Guindy dished out 29 assists in four sets played to command the Corban offense, while sophomore setter Nadeiah Howard fell one dig shy of a double-double with nine balls dug up and 20 dimes dished out. Defensively, Uehara directed the backcourt with 28 digs and a service ace during her senior day festivities.
Mickle was nearly as dominant for the Eagles as Roginski was for the Warriors, as she tallied 20 kills of her own yet committed nearly twice as many errors as Roginski did in eight more attempts. Dees (16), Sparks (13), and middle blocker Azaria Johnson (11) provided Mickle with support at the net in the form of double-digit kill counts, with all-around setter Morgan Harter at the helm of the offense with a game-high 55 assists and 22 digs. Libero Ellie Van Berkum hauled in on another 21 digs for Northwest, with setter Allie Flynn added 14 more in the Eagles' near upset of Corban volleyball.
The Warriors will hit the road for the final weekend of the regular season, beginning next Friday when they're scheduled to visit Walla Walla University (9-13, 8-12) at 2pm in southeastern Washington.
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