CALDWELL, Idaho - No. 14 College of Idaho swept No. 13 Eastern Oregon tonight at the J.A. Albertson Activity Center. If they top Walla Walla tomorrow night, they'll finish second in the regular season standings and secure a first-round bye in the Cascade Conference Tournament.
Both teams kept the score within a point before the Yotes jumped out to a 14-9 lead with kills from
Ashley Pagan,
Brenna Meehan and
Taylor Alexander and a block from Meehan and
Jackie van Vliet. The Mountaineers would never get back within four and the College of Idaho would take the set 25-19. The Yotes had a .226 attack percentage compared to Eastern Oregon's .154.
Things looked bleak for the Yotes in the second set when the Mountaineers went on a six-point run to make the score 18-9. The Yotes started mounting a comeback with
Kilee Lopez up to serve. Alexander and Pagan kills were aided by a block from Alexander and
Alaina Slater, and the Yotes brought it back within five. With Alexander up to serve, the Yotes went on another four-point run to make the score 20-18. Following four back-and-forth points, Pagan would come up big with four consecutive kills to give the Yotes a 23-22 lead. The Mountaineers pulled back ahead 24-23, but van Vliet would wrap up the set for the Yotes with two kills and a block for a score of 26-24.
After some initial back-and-forth, Alexander posted two service aces to give the Yotes a 7-4 lead. Later in the set, Lopez served for six straight points, ending on a service ace to make the score 21-9. The Mountaineers picked up two more points before two Slater kills, a Meehan kill and an Alexander ace gave the Yotes the 25-11 victory. They put up a stellar .469 attack percentage compared to the Mountaineers' .153.
Pagan led the way for the Yotes with 15 kills and 14 digs. Meehan also posted a double-double with 10 kills and a team-leading 21 digs.
Marija Djonovic - the nation's leader in assists per set - put up 48 tonight. van Vliet led in blocks with four and had eight kills. Along with double-digit kills (11), Alexander had a team-leading attack percentage of .308.
No. 14 College of Idaho hosts Walla Walla tomorrow at 4 p.m. for senior night in the J.A. Albertson Activities Center.
