EOU silences Corban

Published 3:11 pm Saturday, October 4, 2008

Grace Deboodt’s 11 kills and 14 digs led the Eastern Oregon volleyball team past Corban College (5-4) (7-7), 3-0 Friday.

“It was definitely a team effort,” Deboodt said. “We could not have got this win if it was not for each player coming together.”

The Mountaineers (7-2), (11-5) started the night slow, rallying from an early deficit in Game 1. EOU went on to win the first game 25-22. Eastern won games two and three, 25-21 and 25-22.

“It’s always nice to get a win at home,” Eastern Oregon head coach Kaki McLean said. “The girls did a nice job of coming out and playing our game.”

A pair of freshmen made big impacts for EOU. Jessica Lea had 11 kills, 22 assists and 10 digs. Lindsey Bohard came in for the Mountaineers for one rotation and collected seven blocks.

“This was a good win. Corban is a tough team to beat. They always play us scrappy and tough,” McLean said. EOU entered the match in third place in the Cascade Conference one match behind Southern Oregon, which is currently riding a seven-match win streak. The Mountaineers received 15 votes in the latest NAIA national poll.

“We still need to work on getting teams to play at our level, opposed to us playing down to their levels. We’re still working on that because we are a young team,” McLean said.

“The expectation is there. We are a lot better than we sometimes show on the court.”

Eastern Oregon finished with 46 kills compared to the Warriors’ 33 kills. The Mountaineers out blocked Corban 25 to 13.

Coming into the match EOU averaged 11.76 kills a game, third best in the conference. Eastern is currently second in the conference in blocks with 132.5 this season.

Corban’s Chelsea Reeher led the Warriors with six kills and seven digs.

EOU currently rides a four-match win streak and has won 12 out of the last 13 games.

The Mountaineers host Concordia (6-3) (10-7) tonight at Quinn Coliseum at 7 p.m.. The Cavaliers fell at The College of Idaho Friday night, 3-0.

The Cavaliers’ Lindsey Fryer comes into Saturday’s game 10th in the conference in kills per game (2.72) and sixth in blocks a game (0.92).

“Concordia will be tough,” McLean said. “They’re a similar team to us. They have some key players that can really make an impact.”