SPOKANE, Wash. – Eastern Oregon University Volleyball defeated Montana Western, 3-1 (26-24, 25-16, 22-25, 25-20), in its first match of the day but dropped a heart breaking five setter to Rocky Mountain, 3-2 (22-25, 18-25, 25-15, 25-23, 8-15), to close out the its day at the Cascade/Frontier Red Lion Challenge on Friday.

Juniors, Casey Loper and Stefani Sorensen led the Mountaineers with 32 kills apiece on the day. Karly Stack led EOU with 49 assists and Bobbi Sumpter followed with 45 assists in EOU two matches.

The Mountaineers and Bulldogs were locked into a tight first set that saw eight ties but only two lead changes. With the score tied at 10, Montana Western scored the next three points to give the Bulldogs a 13-10 lead. Montana Western continued to extend its lead and grew the lead to six points, 20-14.

EOU mounted a comeback and fought back to cut the Bulldogs lead to one point, 21-20, after an ace by Katie Keeney. The Mountaineers finally tied the match at 23 and a kill by Sorensen gave Eastern Oregon a 24-23 lead which they would hold for the remainder of the first set. EOU took set one, 26-24.

The Mountaineers raced out to a 10-4 lead in the second set and EOU did not let Montana Western get anything started. The Mountaineers continued to add to its lead and stretched the lead to 10 points, 24-14. After the Bulldogs scored two points, to trim the lead to eight, 24-16, Stack recorded a kill giving EOU the set win, 25-16, and a 2-0 lead in the match.

Montana Western took control of the third set early as the Bulldogs scored the first four points of the match. EOU continued to battle back and took a three point lead, 14-11, lead after a kill by Taylor Stewart. The lead did not last long as the Bulldogs went on a 7-1 run to give the Bulldogs an 18-15 lead. Montana Western did trail the rest of the third set and took set three 25-22.

The fourth and deciding set saw nine ties and 5 lead changes in the set. Montana Western jumped out to an early 8-3 lead but the Mountaineers answered right back to tie the match at 10. It continued to be a closely contested set until EOU tied the match at 20 after a kill by Sorensen. Eastern Oregon scored the last six points of the match to claim the set, 25-20 and the match, 3-1.

In the second match of the day for the Mountaineers against Rocky Mountain was close for the entire first set as neither team held a lead larger than three points for the entire set. EOU took its biggest lead at 15-12 after an attack error by Anna Dewald of Rocky Mountain. EOU's lead did not last long as the Battlin' Bears battled back to take a 17-16 lead and Rocky did not look back. Eastern Oregon tied the set at 22 but Rocky Mountain scored the last three points of the set to take the first set, 25-22.

The second set did not get much better for the Mountaineers. It stayed close for the first ten points of the set before Rocky Mountain started to pull away. The Battlin' Bears slowly started to pull away and its lead started to double and EOU had no answer. Rocky Mountain took set two 25-18, to take a 2-0 match lead.

In the third set both teams continued to play each other tough, and with the set tied at seven EOU started to pull away. Eastern Oregon took advantage of attack and service errors to take a two point lead at 11-9. EOU extended its lead to 16-9 after a kill by Loper. EOU did not let the Battlin' Bears back in the set and took set three, 25-15.

EOU and Rocky Mountain continued to its close sets as in the fourth. With the match tied at nine, Rocky Mountain scored the next two points to take an 11-9 lead after EOU committed two attack errors. This was the last lead for the Battlin' Bears as EOU scored the next four points to take a 14-11 lead after a Loper kill.

Once Eastern Oregon had the lead in the fourth set the Mountaineers continued to extend its lead and the lead great to six, 18-12, after an attack error by the Battlin' Bears Kylie Nielsen. Rocky Mountain tried to battle back but EOU held them off and took set four, 25-23, to force a fifth and final set.

The fifth set did not start the way EOU wanted it too as Rocky Mountain jumped out to a quick 7-4 lead after a Dewald kill. EOU tried to battle back and cut the Battlin' Bears lead down to one, 8-7, after a kill by Taylor Stewart but that would be as close the Mountaineers would get for the rest of the set as Rocky closed out the match scoring 5 of the last six points. Eastern Oregon fell in the fifth set 15-8.

With the split today EOU goes to 3-1 on the season. Eastern Oregon returns to action tomorrow in the Cascade/Frontier Red Lion Challenge when it faces No. 25 Carroll at noon in Spokane, Wash.