LA GRANDE, Ore.  – An undefeated start to the 2021 season came to a halt on Friday evening as the Bushnell volleyball team fell to No. 14 Eastern Oregon University in four sets. It was the Cascade Collegiate Conference opener for both schools.
 
Bushnell (4-1, 0-1 CCC) took the first set on Friday and were looking good, but were unable to string together enough of a consistent performance to top the defending CCC champions on their home floor. "I was pleased with how we competed in a hostile environment against a ranked team," said head coach Jason Corwin. "It's the small things that got in our way tonight. We will make some adjustments and be ready for another tough opponent on Saturday.
 
Junior Makenna Northern, who led all players with 36 assists, said, "We got a taste of what it would feel like to beat a Top-25 team tonight, but it came down to who made less errors. I have full faith that we will bounce back and have a great game tomorrow."
 
"We competed well and came together as a team," added junior Cambria Lingenfelder. "At the end of the day we didn't get the result we wanted but we fought hard and are excited to face them again at home. This is only the beginning."
 
After hitting .276 in the opener, the Beacons settled in to finish with a .132 attack percentage while the Mounties were on a .242 clip. The Beacons held an 11-7 advantage in blocks and out-aced their foe, 4-2.
 
Shay Coons led the team with ten kills, equaling the match-high. Payton Jones hit .312 with nine kills, Halle Neumann (pictured) had nine kills and Jessica Northcutt added seven. Freshman Maddy Ladd led all players with six blocks while Callie Wilkins owned a team-high 13 digs. Lingenfelder finished with ten digs.
 
Bushnell will turn around for another notoriously difficult fight on Saturday, taking on The College of Idaho in Caldwell at 7:00 pm MDT.