EUGENE, Ore.  – Bushnell completed the toughest stretch of the conference season on Saturday with an even split after dropping a pair of contests to the NAIA No. 9 ranked Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers.
 
"Eastern is really good," said head coach Jason Corwin. "They put so much defensive pressure on their opponent. We did a lot of really good things but did not maintain enough attack consistency to get the result we wanted.
 
Junior Makenna Northern added, "We wanted to win today, but EOU was just more consistent. They made less mistakes than us and that is what wins you games in this sport.
 
MATCH ONE: Eastern Oregon 3, Bushnell 0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-21)
 
Eastern out-hit, out-dug, and out-blocked the Beacons in the morning match, posting a .248 kill percentage while holding Bushnell to .089.
 
The Beacons were led by Claire Salness, hitting .184 with 11 kills and eight digs. Shay Coons (pictured) had three kills without an error and led the team as she had a hand in all four Bushnell blocks.
 
Northern led all players with 25 assists while Callie Wilkins led the team with 11 digs.
 
MATCH TWO: Eastern Oregon 3, Bushnell 0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-19)
 
A similar story played out in the second match, though the Beacons did show some improvement in the offense with 36 kills for a .124 attack clip. Northern led the way with 32 assists.
 
Coons led the Beacons with nine kills while Payton Jones posted eight kills and three blocks. Wilkins again led the team in digs with 19.
 
"We had a tough opponent today and really wanted the win," said Jones. "We played well at moments but our consistency didn't allow us to out play them. Our heads are up, looking forward to the downslope of the season!"
 
The gauntlet that was the first two weekend pods of play, featuring both NAIA Top-25 teams in the conference and the C of I who is receiving votes, ended with the Beacons at 4-4 in the CCC, and 8-4 overall.
 
Next up will be a trip to Klamath Falls in two weeks to take on Oregon Tech (7-4, 4-4) who upset No. 13 Corban on Saturday.
 
Corwin said, "Eastern showed us where we need to improve and we have two weeks to get ready for an OIT team playing with a lot of confidence.
 
"We know what we have to work on," added Northern, "and we are eager to move forward and train really hard to be ready for the Owls."