Box Score

PHOTO GALLERY             MOREHEAD POSTGAME VIDEO             LOPER POSTGAME VIDEO

LA GRANDE, Ore. – The No. 19 Eastern Oregon University volleyball team remained unbeaten in Cascade Collegiate Conference play with a four-set win over Corban University Friday.

The Mountaineers (9-2, 3-0 CCC) remain tied atop the conference standings with the victory. Eastern's Taylor Stewart recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 15 digs. Alisha Crane and Casey Loper entered the match second and third in the conference in hitting percentage, and finished well against Corban. Crane had 13 kills and a .542 hitting percentage, while Loper had 14 kills and a .303 percentage. The duo was also in on four blocks both.

“Our middles have played extremely well so far this season,” Eastern Oregon head coach Kaki Morehead said. “We owe a lot of our success to Alisha and Casey. They're been attacking very accurately, and have been solid at the net on defense.

“I thought we played well tonight, good not great. Corban played tough, and really tested us early and then took that third set. I'm happy we got a positive result in our home opener in front of our crowd. It was great being back home after three weeks on the road.”

Jessica Perron led EOU with 21 assists. Bobbi Sumpter and Karly Stack added 14 and 11 assists. Kaitlyn Duncan finished with a match-high 31 digs and Rebecca Haight had 11 digs.

The opening set would be a battle over the opening 22 combined points until Eastern Oregon broke an 11-11 tie with an 8-2 run to open up a six-point lead (19-13) on a combo block by Irene Walters and Casey Loper. The Mountaineers closed out the set on a 6-4 run that resulted in the 25-17 victory, as Loper registered the set's final point via a kill.

The second set was controlled by Eastern Oregon, who jumped out to an 8-1 lead on a kill by Alisha Crane. EOU continued to apply the offensive pressure, as the Mountaineers pushed their lead to as many as nine points with Loper scoring the set's final point once again with a kill for the 25-18 victory.

Set 3 would see Corban break open a 5-5 tie with a 17-7 run that would result in a 10-point lead (22-12) on a kill by Olivia Shropshire. The Warriors' lead was too large for Eastern Oregon to overcome, as Corban closed out the set with a kill by Jenny Harman for the 25-19 victory.

In the fourth and final set, Eastern Oregon built a nine-point lead (14-5) on a bad set by Corban. Despite closing out the set outscoring EOU by one point (10-9), Corban could not overcome its early deficit falling by 10 points (25-15) for the four-set victory.

Chandra Teague led Corban's offense with a team-high 13 kills, while three other Warriors – Shropshire, Harman, and Claire Bailey – added eight, seven, and six kills, respectively. Katherine Salness guided the Warriors' offense with a match-high 33 assists, while also adding a team-high 21 digs defensively. Three other Warriors –Kiersten Hilt, Teague, and Karisa Legg – also recorded double-digit dig totals with 18, 14, and 10 digs, respectively, while Harman provided a team-high three blocks at the net for Corban.

Under Morehead, the Mountaineers have won five straight over Corban, including 15 of the last 18 sets. EOU has won 10 of the 11 matches against the Warriors under Morehead. The lone loss came on Oct. 25, 2008, in Salem, 3-1. Eastern has won eight straight over Corban in La Grande.

The Warriors (2-7, 0-3) have another match against a top-20 opponent Saturday, at No. 13 The College of Idaho. The Yotes (6-4, 3-0) swept Northwest Christian Friday. Eastern welcomes NCU (5-6, 0-3) Saturday for a 7 p.m. matchup. Live video and stats will be available on EOUSports.com.