LA GRANDE, Ore. – Surviving an epic opening set, No. 9 ranked Eastern Oregon remained unbeaten at home this season, defeating rival College of Idaho 34-32, 25-21, 25-21 inside Quinn Coliseum.
The Mountaineers (21-2, 11-1 CCC) remain a half-game up on Southern Oregon in the league title chase, sweeping the regular-season series from C of I for the first time since the early 1990s.
The opening frame was the highest-scoring 25-point rally set in C of I history, with the 66 combined points the most since the Lady Yotes
(12-9, 9-3) lost a 36-34 Set 3 (during the 30-point rally scoring era) in the CCC Championship game at Southern Oregon in 2005.
After the Lady Yotes rallied from an early 12-8 deficit to take their first lead of the night on an Emily Ottinger kill at 13-12, the two-teams traded kill-for-kill. C of I had seven set points – including a chance at 29-28 from Ottinger that narrowly missed the back right corner of the court. The Yotes led 32-31, but a free ball over the net by EOU eluded the C of I defense for a kill, with a Coyote errant pass and a Casey Loper quick kill from the middle giving the hosts the win.
Eastern used a 9-3 run with two kills each from Rachelle Chamberlain and Amanda Miller to take an 11-4 lead in Set 2. C of I closed within 18-15 on an Ottinger kill, but following an EOU timeout, the Mountaineers rolled off four-straight points to extend the lead. A pair of C of I blocks and a Sierra Porter ace got the Yotes as close as 23-21, but a right-side kill from Isabelle Statkus and a combo block in the middle gave EOU the set win.
EOU opened Set 3 by scoring six of the first seven points, opening the margin to 19-12. The Yotes cut the margin to three on a pair of occasions – at 19-16 and 24-21 – but the hosts closed out the sweep.
Ottinger led the Yotes with 13 kills, with Bailee Kendall adding 12 and Kylie Porter 10. Sierra Porter had a three-set career-high with 46 assists, with Kilee Lopez recording 13 digs.
Loper had 16 kills without an error for the Mountaineers, with Katina Ferguson recording 15 kills and Miller notching 12 – as EOU racked up a CCC three-set season-high 55 kills.
C of I remains on the road next weekend with matches at Concordia and Warner Pacific.
