LA GRANDE, Ore. – "Survive and advance" was the theme inside Quinn Coliseum on Friday afternoon as the No. 1-ranked Eastern Oregon volleyball team pulled off a reverse sweep of (RV) Walla Walla in the semifinal round of the Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament, winning 21-25, 18-25, 25-15, 25-20, 15-8.
With the victory, the top-seeded Mountaineers (27-2) advance to the CCC Tournament Championship, where they will meet No. 5 Corban, the tournament's No. 2 seed.
Entering as the No. 7 seed, the Wolves (14-12) stunned everybody in the building by taking the first two sets and pushing EOU to the brink. The Mounties prevailed, however, and made their biggest comeback of the season which was highlighted by
Keira Vaughn's 1,000th career kill.
Eastern Oregon hit .205 on the day while holding Walla Walla to a .132 percentage. The Mountaineers finished with one less kill than the Wolves, but held a phenomenal 18-7 advantage in blocks which proved to be the difference.
Vaughn led the attack with 13 kills on a .303 clip, bringing her EOU career total to 1,004 and counting. The CCC Player of the Year
Kiauna Mack put an exclamation point on her title with a 12-kill, 11-block double-double while hitting .269, and
Brooke Womack added a 10-kill, 10-dig double-double of her own, plus six total blocks.
Kate Stidham directed the offense with 29 assists, and
Ava Semprimoznik added 13 more as the duo combined for eight digs. Five Mounties delivered at least one service ace, led by
Brooklyn Willard and
Madison Vaughn who had two apiece, and
Jaycee Villastrigo anchored the back row with 17 digs.
Walla Walla was led by Sahara Browning's 22 kills and 12 digs, while Yaimaris Garcia and Vicky Giardina each tallied an impressive four aces. The loss concludes the Wolves' deepest postseason run in program history.
Eastern Oregon will now look to come out firing on Saturday as the team faces one of the only programs to beat them this season. EOU and Corban have both already secured national bids, but tomorrow's winner will claim the Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament title. First serve is set for 3 p.m. inside Quinn Coliseum.
