Volleyball heads to La Grande for the CCC Tournament while men's and women's basketball play their home openers.

VOLLEYBALL

Friday 11/13 vs. The College of Idaho, 9:00 am
Friday 11/13 – CCC Semifinals, TBD
Saturday 11/14 – CCC Championship, 3:00 pm
 
THIS WEEK: The Beacons put it all on the line this weekend, competing in the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament and attempting to qualify for the NAIA national championships.     
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Beacons slipped up slightly, falling to Lewis-Clark State College in three sets on Friday night, but they were able to bounce back, taking care of business against Walla Walla on Saturday to clinch a tie for fourth-place.  
 
CCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK:  Fresh off her NAIA national player of the week performance, Hailey Heider had another spectacular weekend to earn her second straight CCC Offensive Player of the Week award.  In the win over WWU, Heider had her best attacking night of the season, hitting .400 as she collected 23 kills along with 12 digs for her tenth double-double of the season. In the loss to LC State she also produced big numbers with 12 kills and 20 digs.
 
NAIA RANKINGS: The Beacons, still receiving votes in the NAIA national coaches poll are firmly on the bubble for an at-large bid to the NAIA tournament and hope to add to their resume with a third win over No. 22-ranked College of Idaho on Friday. Bushnell still has a respectable spot in other analytics used by the selection committee, ranked #28 in the Massey rankings and #29 in the NAIA Scoring Analytic.
 
The CCC is well represented in the coaches poll with conference tri-champions Eastern Oregon, Southern Oregon, and Corban coming in at 6,7 and 8 respectively in the poll. CI followed at No. 22 with the Beacons receiving votes.
 
TOURNAMENT PREVIEW: With No. 5 College of Idaho and No. 7 Oregon Tech winning their play-in games over Walla Walla and LC State respectively, the field is set for the Cascade Conference quarterfinals.
 
No. 1 Eastern Oregon and No. 2 Southern Oregon University have a bye into the semifinals. They will play the winners of Friday morning's quarterfinals match ups where No. 4 Bushnell faces No. 5 College of Idaho and No. 3 Corban takes on No. 7 Oregon Tech. The lowest remaining seed will play EOU while the highest-remaining will take on SOU. The winners meet in the Championship game on Sunday.
 
Based on the tie-breaker that gave them the No. 1 seed and tournament host duties, Eastern Oregon has earned the first of two CCC automatic bids to the national tournament. The second will go to the tournament champion, or the tournament runner-up if EOU wins.  
 
A CLOSER LOOK: Bushnell closed out the regular season is ranked ranked fifth in the CCC on offense with a .186 attack percentage. They are also sixth defensively, holding opponents to a .150 hitting percentage. The Beacons lead the CCC for service aces, averaging 1.88 per set, and are fourth in digs (16.1/set).
 
Amyah Semau is second in the CCC with 48 aces, averaging 0.45 per set. Hailey Heider is  eighth in the CCC, averaging 0.37 aces per set, and she has moved up to third in the conference for kills, averaging 3.34 per set.
 
COLLEGE OF IDAHO: The Yotes come into Friday off the heels of their play-in win over Walla Walla in three sets. Ranked No. 22 in the NAIA, they have built their resume on the back of three high-profile wins as they split their regular-season series with EOU, SOU, and Corban.
 
The Beacons, however, swept the home-and-home with CI, winning in five sets at home before a four-set win in Caldwell. The Yotes own the all-time series with Bushnell 26-11, but the Beacons have won ten of the last 12 meetings.
 
C of I ranks third in the CCC for attacking percentage (.216) and fourth on defense (.138). They are fourth in the conference for blocks with 2.47 per set.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Saturday 11/16 vs. Rocky Mountain, 3:00 pm
 
THIS WEEK: Bushnell will play in their hope opener on Saturday after starting the season 1-1 on the road.
 
LAST WEEK: The Beacons lost to Whittier College in their season opener, but closed their Southern California road trip with a big win, knocking off Hope International in overtime, 81-74. Libby Mathis led the Beacons with 23 points and 12 rebounds while Ayden Krupke added 19.
 
Mandy Sisul leads the team in scoring through two games, averaging 20 points and four three-pointers per contest.  
 
ROCKY MOUNTAIN: The Bears are off to a 2-2 start to the season and just dropped out of the NAIA's Top-25 on Wednesday. They are currently riding a two-game winning streak, however, taking back-to-back wins against CCC opponents in Caldwell last weekend, knocking off Eastern Oregon and College of Idaho.
 
Rocky was picked to finish second in the Frontier Conference this season, and have two players (Gracee Lekvold and Sydney Dethman) on the pre-season all-conference team. Last year the Bears went 16-13 but were just 4-11 in the Frontier.
 
Bushnell is tied 1-1 in their all-time series with RMC and will face off for the first time since 2016.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Saturday 11/16 vs. Portland Bible, 5:00 pm
 
THIS WEEK: The Beacons open up their home schedule on Saturday, playing host to Portland Bible College. 
 
LAST WEEK: Bushnell competed in an exhibition with Northwest Nazarene University. The Beacons led by eight points with under eight minutes to play, but NNU was able to mount a late comeback, sneaking out a 78-65 victory in their homecoming game. Squeeky Johnson led the team with 14 points while Luke Smith came in off the bench to score 12.
 
PORTLAND BIBLE: PBC is off to an 0-3 start to the 2024-2025 season, including a 106-47 defeat at the hands of CCC foe Multnomah Campus of Jessup University in their season opener. They have been out-scored by an average of 56 points per game and are allowing 104 points per game.
 
Individually, Freshman Jalen Ross leads the team, averaging 13.3 points per game, while Jimmie Proctor scores 11.3 ppg.

Bushnell is 4-0 against the Arrows during the NAIA-era, winning by an average of nearly 42 points per game. The last time the teams faced off was back in 2022, won by the Beacons 95-31.

ESPORTS

Wednesday 11/13 – Rocket League, 5:00 pm
Thursday 11/14 – Fortnite, 5:00 pm
 
Rocket League (2-3) enters a must-win game with Mount Aloysius College on Wednesday evening. With a win, the Beacons will be in a three-way tie for the final two spots in the postseason and hold an advantage in a game differential tiebreak scenario.
 
Fortnite competes in their fourth and final regular season tournament on Thursday. The Beacons sit in 30th on the leaderboard. At the end of each five-game tournament, the top team from each lobby advances to the playoffs. The 17 remaining teams qualify based on points earned throughout the four tournaments, meaning finishing among the top-33 overall will likely earn a spot in the championship tournament.