SALEM, Ore. – A first-set fumble where the No. 3-ranked Corban University Women's Volleyball program saw a 24-21 lead slip through their fingers and allowed the visiting Our Lady of the Lake University Saints to score five-straight points and eke out an extra-point win was quickly put to rest with three-straight sets in their favor, two of which came in dominant fashion and the other in their own comeback bid. The Warriors (4-1) opened their own slate at the 2025 Hampton Inn Classic hosted on their home court with the come-from-behind victory over the Saints (2-4), setting them up for a pair of ranked matchups tomorrow evening against top tier NAIA programs.
"We started a little tight today and made a few more errors than we would've liked, but I'm proud of how the team responded after the first set," explained Warriors' head coach Kim McLain earlier tonight. "Our Lady of the Lake brought a lot of strength at the net, and we knew we had to match that intensity. Our blocking was a big difference maker tonight, and we out blocked when it counted! It was a solid team effort and a great win to build on."
Back-to-back five-point runs by both the Warriors and Saints nearing the end of the first set had the nearly 200 fan in attendance tonight at the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center on the edge of their seats as Corban neared the 25-point mark, yet the second five-point streak of the set for OLLU flipped the Navy and Gold from a one-set advantage into a one-set deficit.
After stretching their 6-2 second set lead into a 20-15 score, a pair of kills along with forcing three-straight attacking errors by Our Lady of the Lake allowed the Warriors to knot the contest up at a set apiece. Attacking under 10% for the first set was followed up by a near 20% increase in the second while holding OLLU to just five kills in total.
The third set saw the visiting Saints take advantage of Warrior miscues while attacking at a much higher efficiency than the previous period, eventually setting themselves up for set point at 24-22 with an opportunity to force at least five sets if not take the match against a top three nationally ranked program.
However, just as OLLU had done to them in the first, Corban responded with three-consecutive scoring plays on a kill from junior outside hitter Kendra Bittle and back-to-back blocks orchestrated by sophomore middle blocker Addison Mills. Following a Saint kill to tie the set at 25-all, a service and attacking error by Our Lady of the Lake provided the Navy and Gold with the 27-25 third set victory.
With all of the momentum now firmly on the Warriors' sideline, Corban opened the fourth set on a 7-2 run and never looked back, eventually scoring on the final five rallies of the contest that was capped by the fifteenth team service ace of the night off the serve of junior libero Kaile'a Ontai.
The Warriors dominated every statistical facet of tonight's contest, including a 15-6 advantage in service aces, 12-8 block differential, and smashing nearly 20 more kills than the Saints overall. In each of the four sets played, Corban outkilled OLLU's second and fourth sets combined, including a blazing hot .368 kill percentage in the fourth and final set.
Bittle was the kill leader on either side of the net in tonight's matchup, as she racked up 13 kills with eight digs in the backcourt and four block assists in the frontcourt. Junior outside hitter Emma Bischoff recorded her third double-double of the young season, securing 12 kills, 15 digs, and a game-high five service aces to represent a third of the team's total aces. Senior opposite hitter Makayla Roginski tacked on 12 more kills of her own and continued her highly efficient season with only three errors recorded.
The setting duo of senior Abby Guindy and junior Nadeiah Howard were as on-point as they've been all year, as they nearly split their 42 assists down the middle with Guindy's 23 and Howard's 19 dimes while combining for 15 digs. Defensively for Corban, Ontai set the game-high mark in digs with 17 more towards her season totals, while Mills set a new career-best in blocking with double-digit block assists (10) tonight.
Saints' outside hitting duo of Anais Velasquez and Mia Francis combined for 22 kills and a pair of block assists apiece, with opposite hitter Clarissa Rodriguez representing the only other OLLU attacker with more than two kills at five across four sets. All-around setter Lauren Reynard secured 28 of the team's 31 assists, while libero Chanisty Villareal Bermea tied Ontai's game-high dig mark with 17 of her own.
Tomorrow night, the Warriors will host the RV Saints of Carroll College (5-1) and No. 13-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan University (5-0) in back-to-back highly anticipated matchups at 4:30pm and 7pm, respectively, to close out the 2025 Hampton Inn Classic on Tim Hills Court. Three neutral site matches will take place prior to Corban's doubleheader, with the Eagles and OLLU meeting at 9am, while RV Bushnell University will battle both Saint programs at 11:30am and 2pm.
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