CALDWELL, Idaho – Another season, another home postseason win. The College of Idaho improved to 21-2 all-time at home in the playoffs, ousting Oregon Tech in three sets in the quarterfinals of the Cascade Conference Championships, presented by U.S. Bank.
The No. 25 ranked Lady Yotes (19-10), the 3-time defending tournament champ, toppled Tech 25-20, 25-18, 25-19 to set up a Friday rematch with rival Southern Oregon. The 4 p.m. (PT) match-up in La Grande, Ore., is the rubber game of a season series that saw C of I win in 4-sets in Caldwell and SOU win in 5-sets two weeks ago in Ashland.
In a match filled with runs, the Yotes got a pair of kills from
Katy Robinson,
Kylie Porter and
Abbey Fenton in an opening 10-4 surge to grab momentum. OIT (15-12) didn't waver, chipping away at the deficit, cutting the margin to 19-18 on a Mykala Rubey spike. The Yotes answered with a
Randi Sturtz-
Jackie van Vliet combo block, with Porter putting away a pair of swings in a 6-2 run to end the set.
OIT took advantage of three early C of I errors in Set 2 to take an 8-6 lead, only to watch back-to-back Porter blocks start a 7-point Yotes run. The hosts extended the lead to 20-12 on a Robinson kill, but kills from Rubey and Bailey Nelson, followed by three consecutive Whitney Webster aces, got the Owls within 20-17. The run stopped with a van Vliet kill, a Robinson kill and a Robinson-Porter block, as the Yotes earned the set win.
OIT opened Set 3 in system, as a Nelson kill gave the Owls their largest lead of the match at 12-7, only to watch the Yotes turn the tide quickly. Two kills each by Robinson and Porter, plus a pair of block assists aided a 14-3 surge, with a Fenton blast sending the Yotes to their tenth-straight CCC semifinal.
Robinson led all players with 11 kills, with Fenton adding 10 for the Yotes. Porter had nine kills and a match-high six blocks, with van Vliet adding seven kills.
Sierra Porter had 41 assists and eight digs;
Kilee Lopez had 22 digs and two aces; with
Jayde Folsom logging 12 digs.
Nelson led Tech with eight kills, with Alexa Burdett adding seven kills and both Webster and Rubey recording six kills. Tori Porter had 21 assists for the Owls and Brooke Malloy had 15 digs.
