PORTLAND, Ore. – The No. 7 Eastern Oregon University volleyball team may have cut the third stanza close, but the Mountaineers still came away with their seventh three-set (25-4, 25-12, 27-25) triumph of the season against Multnomah on Saturday night.

"It's good to get two games in a row on the road and we accomplished that," said head volleyball coach Kaki McLean Morehead. "In the third set we made some crucial mistakes at crucial times, and we just need to do a better job of managing that regardless of personnel."

After winning the first two sets by double digits, the Navy and Gold overcame an early four-point deficit in the third frame to pull off the victory.

"The first two sets we played tough and rarely made mistakes," said Morehead. "We need to focus on that and improving our game even more this week."

Key Performances
Sophomore middle hitter Emily Nay and sophomore right side hitter Isabelle Statkus led the offensive front with nine kills apiece, while senior libero Piper Cantrell and junior defensive specialist Sara Pulaski tallied 16 and 13 digs, respectively.

Meanwhile, junior setter Rachelle Chamberlain chipped in seven digs to go along with her 30 assists.

The Storyline
EOU saw its most lopsided set of the season in the first stanza, as the team shot out to a 14-point advantage (16-2), and Linke amassed four kills in the run. Back-to-back kills by Nay and Linke gave the Navy and Gold a 23-3 lead, and at set point (24-4), the Lions committed one of their 15 attack errors to give EOU the set.

The Mountaineers opened the second set on a 13-1 run capped by a kill by sophomore outside hitter Amanda Miller. After Kendra De Hoog swung in for a kill to extend EOU's lead to 16 (20-4), Multnomah assembled their largest run of the set, scoring three unanswered to pull within 13. Reilly Hack found Nay for the kill to give EOU a 23-10 lead, and the Lions went on to commit a pair of service errors to surrender the frame.

Although the match may have been one-sided for most of the night, things got interesting in the third set, as Multnomah opened the frame on a 12-8 run to stay in the contest. Later in the set, a pair of kills by Statkus and two attack errors by Multnomah handed EOU a three-point (22-19) lead, but the Lions clawed their way back into the stanza to tie the match at 25 apiece.

However, errors proved to be fatal for Multnomah, as two-straight miscues wrapped up the three-set win for EOU.

Stat of the Match
62 – Digs by EOU, a season-high for the Mountaineers in a three-set match.

Up Next
The Navy and Gold (13-1, 8-0 CCC) returns home on Oct. 2 to face Oregon Tech at 7 p.m.