LA GRANDE, Ore. – Despite a late comeback attempt, the Mountaineers dropped their first match in conference play ending a 19-match winning streak that dates back to the first weekend of the season. In a top-5 matchup with No. 5 Corban, EOU fell in five sets Saturday evening at home, 25-19, 27-25, 19-25, 27-29, 15-13. With the EOU loss and Corban win both squads now sit at 19-2 on the season.
The top two teams in the conference battled it out after Corban took the first set comfortably. With a 1-0 set lead, the Warriors and Mounties went the distance in set two. A late run had the Mounties just a point away from evening it up at 25-24. Three points later, two coming from Rylee Troutman via kill and service ace, and Corban was one set away from upsetting the No. 1 Mountaineers.
Eastern, down 0-2 to Corban, looked to find the resilience they showed earlier in the season when they found themselves in the same situation during their second weekend of play against then No. 20 Columbia. The Mounties were able to pull off the comeback in that match and looked like they had another shot after taking the third set comfortably thanks to an early five-point run that helped carry them the set victory.
The fourth set proved to be the longest Eastern has played all season as the Warriors battled back from an early deficit. A final three-point swing in EOU's favor pushed the match to a fifth and final set as Eastern won 29-27.
With the match on the line Eastern was two points away from pulling off the come-from-behind victory leading 13-12. Corban responded with two kills and took the set and match win on a Mountie attack error, winning 15-13.
Eastern will have a quick turnaround time as they travel to Caldwell, Idaho for a mid-week match against the Yotes on Tuesday, Oct. 11. First serve is set for 6 p.m.
BY THE NUMBERS:
- Corban held the advantage offensively with five more kills and four more aces than the Mountaineers
- Eastern posted its second straight game and ninth game of the season with double digit blocks totaling 15, 6 more than Corban
- It was a relatively inefficient night attacking for both teams as they each hit below .200 on the night
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
- EOU
- Corban
- Rylee Troutman: 24 kills, .271 H%, 16 digs, 3 service aces
- Makayla Roginski: 16 kills, .313 H%, 3 blocks, 6 digs
- Jadyn Mullen: 31 assists, 13 digs
