LA GRANDE, Ore.  – Callie Wilkins posted 22 digs on Friday evening and broke Bushnell's single-season record as the Beacons lost to No. 1 Eastern Oregon University in the semifinals of the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament, 25-22, 25-18, 25-19.
 
The Beacons move to 20-12 on the season and will wait to see what the selection committee does on Monday as they hope for a third straight trip to the NAIA National Tournament.
 
Bushnell was led once again by Jessica Northcutt, collecting 13 kills. Payton Jones and Halle Neumann posted eight kills apiece with Jones hitting .538 in the middle with just one error.
 
Makenna Northern secured 33 assists while Bella Parque collected 11 digs.
 
Eastern Oregon (29-2) showed why they are the top team in the entire NAIA, hitting .299 while out-blocking the Beacons 9-3.
 
"We fought hard tonight," said Head Coach Jason Corwin. "We held leads but just couldn't sustain them. I loved out energy and effort. Congratulations to Eastern. We wish them luck at nationals."
 
For Wilkins, her dig total on the year jumped to 523 to set a new Bushnell single-season record. Also setting a new single-season mark on Friday was Jones, who collected five combined blocks over two matches to improve to 92 block assists on the season. She is only the second player ever to produce over 100 total blocks in a year.
 
As a team, the Beacons also broke a school record with 240 blocks, eclipsing the previous single-season record of 233 which was set in 2019.