CALDWELL, Idaho – The No. 2-ranked Corban University Beach Volleyball team stood tall today against their Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) competition to complete the undefeated weekend in Idaho, sweeping Northwest University for the sixth-straight matchup before capturing another thrilling 3-2 match win over RV Southern Oregon University to stay atop the conference standings.

"Today was a mixed bag of emotions," began Corban head coach Dan Stephens. "We won our match with NU, but they played us really close in a couple of pairings, and then SOU had an injury in the twos that saw them forfeit the pair to us. We are in a very tough conference for beach volleyball and there's no time to slack off. Our team needs to clean up our play in order to maintain a winning record going into the final week of conference play and looking ahead to potential postseason matches. We had great fan support this weekend and we appreciate everyone that traveled to watch."

After having to change up the starting pairs a bit due to some pregame injuries, the Warriors (11-2, 7-0) returned to full strength in their first match of the day with the Eagles (2-13, 0-9) on neutral site territory, where Corban only dropped two sets the entire dual en route to their second 5-0 sweep of Northwest this season and continuing their all-time winning streak over CCC opponents.

Returning from a necessary off-day in the tournament opener yesterday was Warriors' junior Megan Dennis in the top pairing alongside freshman Megan Dennis, where the duo dusted off the rust in a 23-21 opening set loss before fighting back and taking the final pair of the morning session 21-19 and 15-11. Redshirt freshman Erin Scott and freshman Allyson Reid also avenged their only pair loss yesterday with a three-set win today, as they took the first set 21-17, was forced to play a third set after falling 21-13 in the second, then handily defeated Eagles' fourth pair Kylie Rankins and Sophia Rice via a 15-5 final set score.

Having already earned a 3-2 win over the Raiders (7-2, 6-2) earlier this season, today's dual between the conference powerhouse programs would either level the playing field or provide the Warriors with a massive potential tiebreaker over SOU should the two teams end the regular season with identical conference records.

Just like in their first head-to-head battle, the two teams split the twos and fours to enter the final three pairs in a 1-1 draw, resulting in a best-of-three scenario between the first, third, and fifth pairings. Dennis and Bischoff sprinted to the finish line against Southern Oregon's Madi Gray and Tessa Zimmermann in a rare 2-0 sweep over the Raiders' top pair, while SOU tied the match back up with 21-16 and 21-11 set score wins in the fives.

The fate of the most recent edition in the Warriors-Raiders beach volleyball rivalry rested on the shoulders of the third overall pairs in Caldwell this afternoon, where redshirt junior Nicole Bantilan and sophomore Emmi Marks left no doubt in 21-11 and 21-9 dominant set victories over Southern Oregon's Kendal Hadwick and Lucretia Benolken, where the Corban duo surrendered only 20 points all afternoon to clinch the match and propel the Navy and Gold to a 1.5 game lead over the aforementioned Raiders.

No. 2 Corban 5, Northwest 0

1. Megan Dennis/Emma Bischoff (CRB) def. JAMES, Caitlyn/ROWELL, Carlee (NU) 21-23, 21-19, 15-11

2. Danae Stokes/Jessica McMillian (CRB) def. CULP, Madelynn/SPELA JARC, Masa (NU) 21-7, 21-9

3. Emmi Marks/Nicole Bantilan (CRB) def. KEELING, Brynn/KATZ, Charlize (NU) 21-4, 21-13

4. Allyson Reid/Erin Scott (CRB) def. RANKINS, Kylie/RICE, Sophia (NU) 21-17, 13-4, 15-5

5. Jordan Faircloth/Payton Bazant (CRB) def. DRANSFELDT, Kali/FABER, Sydney (NU) 21-14, 21-15

No. 2 Corban 3, (RV) SOU 2

1. Megan Dennis/Emma Bischoff (CRB) def. GRAY, Madi/ZIMMERMANN, Tessa (SOU) 21-14, 21-19

2. Jessica McMillian/Danae Stokes (CRB) def. GULBRANDSEN, Grace/JACKSON, Taylor (SOU) 16-21, 21-13, 15-0

3. Emmi Marks/Nicole Bantilan (CRB) def. HADWICK, Kendal/BENOLKEN, Lucretia (SOU) 21-11, 21-9

4. NIHIPALI-BOTELHO/HITE, Annie (SOU) def. Allyson Reid/Erin Scott (CRB) 18-21, 21-16, 15-10

5. PEREZ, Natalie/PEREZ, Natasha (SOU) def. Payton Bazant/Jordan Faircloth (CRB) 21-16, 21-11

Ext. LEDERER, Carly-Rose/WECKERLE, Addison (SOU) def. Kiley Power/Cammie Masanda (CRB) 21-19, 21-13

Corban beach volleyball will return to Oregon and prepare for the final conference tournament of the inaugural CCC season, where they'll start the weekend in Eugene to faceoff with the College of Idaho (4-4, 4-4) and Bushnell University (2-13, 3-5) on the Beacons' home courts.

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