KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – The Bushnell volleyball team slipped into fifth place in the CCC standings on Friday as they lost to Oregon Tech in three sets, 25-19, 25-23, 25-21.
The usually tough-serving Beacons went the entire night without a service ace while the Owls owned six of their own, and the home team made just six unforced errors on the attack to balance out a ten-block night from Bushnell to claim victory. OIT hit .189 in the match while the Beacons had a .161 kill percentage with 14 unforced attack errors and seven service errors.
"We ran up against a well-coached team playing at home," said head coach
Jason Corwin. "We made too many errors and they played a really clean fundamental game."
Bushnell got out to the first lead on the night, 10-8 in the opening set, but the Owls closed on a 17-9 run to go ahead. The Beacons scored the first four points of the second set but again the Owls charged ahead. Bushnell closed it to within 24-23 before falling.
The Beacons were looking to keep the match alive in the third, hitting .237 as they claimed an 18-16 lead, but the Owls went on a 9-3 streak to close out the upset.
Makenna Northern led the way for the Beacons (8-5, 4-5 CCC), collecting game-highs with 24 assists and 17 digs. She also hit .500 with four kills.
Halle Neumann and
Jessica Northcutt led the team with eight kills each while
Payton Jones added seven kills and a.500 attacking clip.
Natalie Martin posted six blocks and five kills.
Oregon Tech (8-4, 5-4) had two players reach double-digit kills, led by Nicole Reyes with 15 and 14 digs. Kaylin Talonen added ten kills, while Brooke Cassidy finished the night with 17 assists and seven digs.
As the Beacons move forward to Saturday's rematch, a number of milestones and records will come into focus. Northern has moved herself to 1,993 career assists as she aims to become just the second Beacon to ever reach the 2000-club.
Claire Salness is just 22 attack attempts away from becoming Bushnell's all-time leader, and Martin now needs just five solo blocks for that career record and the blocking triple crown (career leader for total blocks, solo blocks and block assists).
The teams will face off again tomorrow at 4:00 pm. Corwin said, "We will need to come back tomorrow and play better all around. We are capable and I have every confidence with this group that we will be ready to play."
