mcgowne
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
3
Winner Eastern Oregon EOU 22-2, 17-1
1
Southern Oregon SOU 21-3, 14-3
Winner
Eastern Oregon EOU
22-2, 17-1
3
Final
1
Southern Oregon SOU
21-3, 14-3
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Eastern Oregon EOU 25 31 19 25 (3)
Southern Oregon SOU 23 29 25 23 (1)

Game Recap: Volleyball | | SOU Sports Information

No. 10 EOU denies Raiders, clinches share of conference title

ASHLAND – Eastern Oregon's reward Friday night for reversing its fortune at Riehm Arena was a second straight Cascade Conference championship.

The 10th-ranked Mountaineers claimed three toss-up sets and prevailed after four with a 25-23, 31-29, 19-25, 25-23 defeat of 14th-ranked Southern Oregon. Already guaranteed the No. 1 seed in the CCC tournament a share of the regular-season title, they need only to win one of their last two matches to claim it outright for the first time in program history.

Coming into the night, EOU (22-2 overall, 17-1 CCC) had lost 24 of 25 matches all-time in Ashland, picking up its only win in 2008. Kasaundra Tuma headed the breakthrough with 16 kills, five digs and four assisted blocks, while setter Rachelle Chamberlain tallied 43 assists and nine digs.

The Raiders (21-3, 14-3) gave themselves a chance with stout defense: Niki Small was in on nine of their 12 blocks, just two off a season-high for the team, and the Mountaineers were held to an attacking average of .121 – their second-lowest of the season. Three Raiders reached double figures in kills – Corynn Kopra (17), Laura Morse (13) and Emma Gasman (10) – but they were also stuck with their second-worst attack of the season at .153.

SOU rallied from an 18-12 deficit to end up competitive in the first set, which Isabel Statkus ended with a kill. The Raiders then served for set-point at 25-24, 27-26, and 28-27 but couldn't capitalize in the second frame, which ended on a controversial "out" call.

Despite dropping the first two, however, SOU was in position to force a fifth set with a 19-13 lead in the fourth. Emily Nay's back-to-back kills started EOU's charge, which continued when, trailing 21-20, an SOU attacking error was followed by four straight Tylo Colflesh service points.

The Raiders' 31st attacking error of the night ended it. They also racked up an uncharacteristic eight service errors.

Nay and Amanda Miler added nine kills apiece and Kendra De Hoog had eight for EOU. Colflesh (11), Piper Cantrell (11) and Sara Pulaski (10) combined for 32 digs.

SOU's Lauren McGowne had a match-best 50 assists. Ashlynn Flynn collected 23 digs, Tyana Andrews had 16, Small chipped in seven kills and Courtney Macklin provided a spark with five kills in the last two sets.

The Raiders are now a half-game behind second-place College of Idaho (17-9, 15-3) which visits SOU at 5 p.m. Saturday in the final home match of the season. 
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