Box Score

IRVINE, Calif. – The No. 23 Eastern Oregon University defeated Montana Tech, 3-1 (25-23, 25-20, 23-25, 25-18), to close out its games at the Concordia (Calif.) Labor Day Tournament.
 
In set one, the Orediggers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead over EOU and however, the Mountaineers started to chip away. Casey Loper put the Mountaineers down two, 5-3, by recording her second kill of the set. The Mountaineers continued to extend and took a 7-5 lead after an ace by Jessalyn Smith.
 
With the set tied at 8-8, Montana Tech answered and started to pull away from EOU. The Orediggers went on a 12-5 run in the first set to take a 20-13 lead over Eastern Oregon. Amanda Miller put an end to the run with a kill, which sparked the Mountaineers offense. After Miller's kill, EOU scored six of the next seven points to cut the Montana Tech's lead down to two points, 21-19.
 
Montana Tech continued to lead 23-20. However, the Orediggers did not score for the rest of the set and EOU scored the last five points to take set one, 25-20. Isabelle Statkus recorded the kill to give EOU the set.
 
The Mountaineers and Orediggers stayed locked in a tight battle in set two. With the score tied at 7-7, EOU slowly started to pull away from Montana Tech. EOU started taking advantage of Montana Tech errors and kills by De Hoog, Miller, Statkus and Loper allowed the Mountaineers to grow their lead to 16-10.
 
It looked as if the Orediggers were slowly mounting a comeback, however, after a kill by Emily Nay, the Mountaineers were ahead 19-12. Montana Tech continued to battle and cut the lead down to four points, 20-15. The Mountaineers did not let Montana Tech get any closer than four points the rest of the set and EOU took the second set, 25-20, to take a 2-0 lead over Montana Tech.
 
Set three began like the second, where neither team wanted to take control of the set. With the set tied at 6-6, Montana Tech scored the next two points to take the lead. EOU answered by scoring the next three points to take a 9-8 lead.
 
With the set tied at 12-12, the Mountaineers began to pull away. After kills by Loper and Miller, EOU led by two, 14-12. The Orediggers cut the Mountaineers lead down to one, but EOU continued to pull away and grew its lead to 18-14. However, Montana Tech would not go away and battled to take a lead over EOU at 20-19.
 
EOU continued to battle back and tied the set at 22-22, after an attack error by Jordan Danz. After the set was tied at 22-22, Loper gave EOU the lead at 23-22. The lead did not last long, as EOU recorded three attack errors in a row to drop the set, 25-23.
 
After letting the third set slip away, EOU jumped all over the Orediggers in set four. Eastern Oregon scored eight of the first ten points to take an 8-2 lead. Montana Tech looked to be chipping away at the Mountaineers lead but each time Montana Tech got within five, the Mountaineers answered. After a kill by Malia Mills, EOU's lead was up to seven points, 17-10.
 
Eastern Oregon continued to extend its lead and after a kill by Katina Ferguson the Mountaineers had match point, and a ten point lead, 24-14. Montana Tech slowly started to come back and scored four straight points. Kasaundra Tuma put an end to the Orediggers run with a kill to give EOU the set, 25-18 and match win, 3-1.
 
Casey Loper led the Mountaineers with 13 kills and Isabelle Statkus followed with 10 kills. Rachelle Chamberlain dished out 42 assists while Jessalyn Smith recorded 21 digs.
 
Eastern Oregon returns to the court on Wednesday, Sept. 3^rd when they open up their home schedule against Walla Walla University. Match starts at 5 p.m.