GAME QUOTES

LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University volleyball team qualified for the Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament with a sweep over Warner Pacific College Friday, 3-0.

The Mountaineers (15-9, 13-2 CCC) bounce back from a two-match skid and qualify for their third postseason in the past four seasons. EOU is tied for second place in the conference standings with Southern Oregon, but holds the tiebreaker due to the earlier season sweep over the Raiders in La Grande.

Alisha Crane and Jessica Lea each finished with eight kills to lead Eastern Oregon. Lea added 14 assists and six digs. Leigh Anne MacCarthy, Kaitlyn Duncan, and Taylor Stewart all finished with six digs. Emily Sampson had a match-high 20 assists.

Eastern opened the first set with a 15-2, and had its largest lead at 15 points during the game. The set was never tied and featured no lead changes. The Mountaineers won the opening set, 25-10.

Game 2 began with a 1-1 tie, before EOU went on a 10-0 run to take a decisive lead in the set. The Mountaineers continued to stretch their lead and took the second game, 25-9.

The third set featured no ties and no lead changes, with Eastern never surrendering the lead. The Mountaineers opened with a 4-1 advantage and stretched the margin to 16-7 after an attack error by Warner Pacific. EOU had its largest lead at nine points, including the final margin, 25-16.

The Knights (3-14, 2-14) were led by Kim Mulka's five kills. Kelsey Kurtz had a team-high 11 assists and seven digs.

WPC finished with a -.022 hitting percentage, while Eastern was at .353. The Mountaineers had a 40-18 kill advantage, 38-14 assist advantage, and a 41-27 dig advantage.

Eastern won its 11th consecutive match over Warner Pacific Friday. The Mountaineers have won 30 of the last 31 sets over WPC. The Knights last defeated EOU on Sept. 16, 2006, in five sets in La Grande.

Lindsey Bohard, Lea, and Sampson all will play their final regular season matches in Quinn Coliseum Saturday as the Mountaineers host Concordia University (14-9, 9-7) on Senior Night. The Cavaliers were swept Friday at The College of Idaho. EOU beat Concordia earlier this season in four games. Saturday's match in La Grande begins at 7 p.m. Live video and stats will be available on EOUSports.com.