Clayton

SALEM — The No. 7-ranked Eastern Oregon volleyball team cleared a early-season Cascade Collegiate Conference hurdle on Friday, Sept. 2, sweeping No. 5 Corban in Salem.

The Mountaineers (8-1 overall) took the three sets 27-25, 25-21, 25-17 for their eighth consecutive victory.

“I am so proud of our team tonight and how they performed under pressure in a highly competitive atmosphere,” EOU head coach Kaki McLean Morehead said. “We knew it was going to be a high level match and that we were going to have to control our errors and play incredibly well.”

Eastern’s defensive frontline gave the Warriors trouble all night long, leading a block parade and blocking advantage of 14-3 on the night, with a majority coming in the third and final set. Eastern Oregon tallied seven assisted blocks in the third set alone, including the penultimate point. EOU completed the sweep one point later on a season-long atypical Warrior attacking error, sending Corban fans home early. 

The Mountaineers finished with only eight attack errors, while forcing Corban into 24 errors.

The Warriors struck an abysmal .000 attacking percentage in the third set, tallying just as many errors as they did kills (10). This marks the first time this season that the Warriors have collected less than 40 kills in a contest, managing to find the court floor just 38 total times tonight. 

Eastern’s Preslee Jensen finished with 11 kills, while Alexis McMurtrey handed out 14 assists to go with 12 digs. Sade Williams had 13 digs and four blocks and two kills and Kara Clayton had nine blocks and seven kills.

The win pushes EOU’s streak to six-straight wins against nationally ranked opponents. The sweep of Corban also marks their third win over a top-10 team in the 2022 campaign, and their second sweep of a top-10 team. EOU continues conference play on the road Sept. 3 against Bushnell. The match is set to start at 5 p.m. in Eugene.