PORTLAND, Ore. – The No. 1-ranked Eastern Oregon University volleyball team made program history Saturday evening, extending its win streak to 21 consecutive matches with a dominant 3-0 (25-8, 25-15, 25-11) sweep of Warner Pacific University. The 21st straight victory marks the best start in program history, surpassing the record set by the Mountaineers just one season ago.
Eastern Oregon set the tone immediately, jumping out to an 8-1 lead behind four kills from
Keira Vaughn and two from
Mylie Mills. The Mountaineers continued to build their advantage, extending the lead to 17-4 as Vaughn remained aggressive at the net and
Sidney Friesen added three service aces.
Jule Whitley and
Stella Koch helped close out the set with strong plays on both the attack and at the net, as EOU cruised to a 25-8 first-set victory.
Warner Pacific responded with a stronger effort in the second set, but the Knights were unable to slow the Mountaineers' attack. Eastern opened the set with an eight-point run to take a 9-2 lead, highlighted by kills from Vaughn and
Olivia Chilton and three service aces from
Jaycee Villastrigo. The Knights capitalized on a few EOU errors to cut into the deficit, but the Mountaineers continued to control the set, maintaining a 16-7 advantage. Warner Pacific then put together a five-point run, sparked by a service ace and two kills, along with several EOU attack errors. Eastern answered in the final stretch with kills from
Sky Nesser and Chilton, while
Ava Semprimoznik and Friesen added two more service aces.
Ava Swan closed out the set with a kill, giving the Mountaineers a 25-15 win and a 2-0 match lead.
Eastern carried its offensive momentum into the third set, opening with three consecutive kills from Nesser, Koch and Chilton. After the teams traded points early,
Akylah Kaino sparked a nine-point Mountaineer run that featured two more Friesen aces, kills from
Ellie Johnson and Swan, and blocks from
Brooke Womack,
Bailey Robertson and Swan. Warner Pacific ended the run with a kill, but EOU quickly responded with back-to-back kills from Womack to push its lead to 17-4. The Knights later put together a 5-2 run, but the Mountaineers' advantage proved too large to overcome. Eastern closed out the third set 25-11 to secure the sweep and its 21st consecutive victory.
The Mountaineers dominated statistically, hitting .450 as a team while holding Warner Pacific to just .074. EOU also held significant advantages in kills (43-19), service aces (14-3), blocks (5-0), assists (37-17) and digs (44-30). Friesen led the Mountaineers with seven service aces, while Koch anchored the defense at the net with 3.0 blocks. Robertson added 2.0 blocks in the victory.
Eastern Oregon returns to action Friday, Oct. 9, hosting Northwest University at 6 p.m. PT in Quinn Coliseum.
