BOX SCORE

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University volleyball team completed a season sweep of Oregon Tech with a sweep over the Owls on the road Friday.

The Mountaineers (17-9, 15-2 Cascade Collegiate Conference) continue their best season ever in the Cascade Conference. Before this season, Eastern Oregon has never won 15 matches in CCC play.

Jessica Lea became the only player in EOU history to surpass 2,000 assists in the victory. The senior is 54 kills shy of 1,000 in her career. Lea had 16 assists Friday, along with eight kills. Emily Sampson added 10 assists. Kaitlyn Duncan and Rebecca Haight finished with 16 and 10 digs.

A Jennifer Saltenberger kill gave the Owls a 5-4 lead early in the opening set, while three EOU attack errors put OIT up 8-5. Eastern answered with a 5-0 run before the Owls answered back, however, four more from the visitors gave the Mountaineers a 14-9 lead. Tech would close to two points on three occasions, the last at 23-21, but EOU closed out set one with the final two points to win 25-21.

An Aurora Penoyar kill along with an ace from Sarah Svedin tied the contest in set 2, but the Mountaineers answered back and increased their lead to 12-9. Six-straight from EOU would double up the Owls, 18-9, and later trail Eastern by as many as 11. OIT would close the gap to five, 22-17, but EOU once again answered with the final three points to win set 2 by a 25-17 final.

After OIT (13-11, 7-10) took an 11-9 lead in set 3, EOU strung together four-straight to take the lead back from the home team. Tech kept it close, 18-16, but another run, this time five-straight, gave EOU a 23-16 advantage. The Owls would score four in a row, but EOU never let it get closer, winning the set and match 25-20.

Joey Parnell and Penoyar tied for game-high honors in kills with eight each. Svedin recorded 28 assists to go with 10 digs, while Krystie Vea added 16 digs and Mindy Nalder 15 in the loss for Tech.

Eastern Oregon is one win shy of reaching 18 victories for only the second time in the past 20 years. The Mountaineers have now six straight matches over Oregon Tech, including six of the seven sets this season over the Owls.

The Mountaineers travel to No. 14 Southern Oregon for the final match of the regular season Saturday at 7 p.m. EOU swept the Raiders in La Grande earlier this year. SOU was ranked No. 14 at the time. Southern upset No. 6 College of Idaho Friday in Ashland in five sets. The Eastern and Southern Oregon match will have live video and stats on EOUSports.com.