Box Score

EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University volleyball team couldn't get anything going on Saturday night, falling to Eastern Oregon, 25-16, 25-22, 25-16. The Mounties hit .211 for the game, which was enough to keep the Beacons out of reach for most of the match.

NCU Head Coach Mike Gaffaney said, “Eastern put a lot of pressure on us on serve tonight. When we don't side out well, we aren't going to play well and that was the story tonight. They held us at bay and we just couldn't run our offense the way we are accustomed to.”

Eastern Oregon (4-6, 4-0 CCC) has won four straight matches and keeps hold of their tie for first place in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, which they currently share with No. 8 College of Idaho, also a winner on Saturday.

The Mounties were led by Jessica Lea who finished the night just one dig shy of a triple double, collecting 16 assists, ten kills and nine digs. Alisha Craine went 9-for-14 without an error, giving her a match-high .643 attack percentage. Emily Sampson added a double-double with 15 assists and ten digs and Kaitlyn Duncan led EOU with 21 digs. Eastern Oregon held a 9-4 advantage blocking, getting five block assists from Katie Showers and three apiece from Lea and Crane.

Northwest Christian (6-5, 1-3) was led by Danielle Nance with a match-high eleven kills. Cori Wallace collected a match-high 21 assists and Dana Clark led all players with 22 digs, averaging over seven per set. Maren Mansfield had all three of NCU's service aces and Emily O'Neal led the team with four blocks.

Eastern Oregon will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to face Walla Walla University. It's then back to the CCC grind on Friday evening, taking on No. 13 Southern Oregon University back in Le Grande.

The Beacons have a scrimmage on Tuesday at Umpqua Community College and then travel to face The Evergreen State on Friday.