LA GRANDE, Ore. – The No. 1 Mountaineers added on to their win streak on Friday night taking on the Bushnell Beacons at home in La Grande. The Mounties were taken to four sets by Bushnell and took the match win, 25-17, 22-25, 25-18, 25-20. With the win the Mounties push their win streak to 19 sitting at 19-1 and Bushnell falls to 12-8.
Eastern took a commanding lead in the first set and controlled it from their third point on. The Mounties held a nine-point lead at two different points of the set and eventually would close it out with an eight-point set victory thanks to a balanced offensive attack. In just the first set Eastern had six players record a kill as the Mounties jumped out to the 1-0 lead winning, 25-17.
Bushnell struck back in the second set. The Beacons grabbed the lead from the start and held the lead the entire set evening up the match at one set a piece. A balanced Beacon attack combined with 13 Mountaineer errors defined the second set. Bushnell won 25-22.
With the match even at one the error bug switched sides as a team cracked double digit errors (service and attack) in a single set for the third time in three sets. The Beacons totaled 11 errors attacking and serving in the third set as the Mounties took the set-win 25-18.
To wrap up the evening, two of the top teams in the conference battled out a close set until the Mountaineers pulled away down the stretch. With a two-point lead at 22-20, the Mounties rattled off three straight points to clinch the set, 25-20, and the win 3-1.
Eastern will face No. 5 Corban at home in their next match Saturday evening. The top-five matchup is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Defense shined for EOU as the Mounties cracked double digit blocks for the eight time this year totaling 16 in four sets
- The back line did their part as well finishing with 51 digs
- Bushnell dominated at the service line with six aces to EOU's zero
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
- EOU
- BU
- Jessica Northcutt: 14 kills, 12 digs, 2 blocks
- Halle Neumann: 11 kills, 2 blocks
- Callie Wilkins: 19 digs, 1 service ace, 1 kill, 1 assist
