LA GRANDE, Ore. – A season-sweep over The College of Idaho was not to be as the Yotes defeated Bushnell on Friday morning in the quarterfinals of the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament, 25-12, 25-20, 25-21.
 
Bushnell had taken both regular-season matches with the No. 22-ranked team in the NAIA, giving the Beacons the tie-breaker for the fourth-seed in the tournament as both teams tied for fourth-place in the conference regular season. The Yotes were relegated to the No. 5 seed, and played their way into the quarterfinals with a win over No.8-seed Walla Walla on Tuesday.
 
The Yotes (20-12) dominated the Beacons (19-12) when it mattered most, hitting .298 while forcing the Beacons into a .073 attack behind a 10-1 advantage in blocks. College of Idaho held a 46-36 margin in digs and a 40-32 advantage in kills.
 
Head Coach Jason Corwin, who was coaching his 200th game with the Beacons, said, "CI did a good job of playing to their strengths. We had a hard time maintaining any service and hitting pressure on them. The fight was there and we had our opportunities but the margin for error was so thing we just couldn't overcome it today."
 
The College of Idaho was led by the duo of Mia Hutchinson and Haley McUne, who each had ten kills. Hutchison hit .474 as she posted just one attack error. McUne made it a double-double with a team-high ten kills Abby Draghici earned seven blocks, and Savannah Hutchins earned a match-high 19 assists.
 
Hailey Heider also had ten kills to lead the Beacons, giving her 344 on the season and the second-highest total in school history. Makenna Mosher finished the match with one block, bumping her season total to 108, also the second-most in school history.
 
Bella Parque led all players with 12 digs and Amyah Semau (pictured) finished the match with seven kills and ten digs, adding two service aces. She now has 50 aces on the season, the most by a Beacon in 17 years.
 
With the win, C of I advances to the semifinals on Friday evening and will play either top-seed Eastern Oregon. No. 2-seed Corban faces No. 3-seed Southern Oregon in the other semifinal.
 
Bushnell, currently receiving votes in the NAIA national coaches poll and ranked in the Massey Index Top-30, will now sit and wait to see if their name is called when the at-large selections for the NAIA National Champions tournament are released on Sunday.
 
"I am proud of this team and what we have accomplished this season," said Corwin. "We will be ready to play again if/when our number is called next week."