EOU splits weekend opener

DIG MACHINE: EOU’s Kaitlyn Duncan helped fuel a Cascade Collegiate Conference split this weekend. She finished with 26 digs on the weekend. The Observer/PAUL HARDER

Unfortunately, unforced errors to No. 23 Southern Oregon kept that from happening Friday.

“You can’t give points to a team like Southern,” EOU head coach Kaki Morehead said. “They’ll just take the points and run away with the game.

EOU came out on the short end of a four-game match, 26-25, 23-25, 23-25, 20-25.

Freshman Kaitlyn Duncan handled the pressure in the opening game, recording five digs. She finished the match with  a team-high 14 digs.

“She’s still a freshman,” Morehead said. “She played great at times, and showed there’s room for improvement.”

The big miscues came in Game 3.

Leading 22-19, EOU struggled to set the ball. The Mountaineers were whistled for three setting errors down the stretch, including game point.

EOU finished the match with nine ball handing errors, all from the setters.

“It’s not every match that you see that called so tight,” Morehead said. “It wasn’t just us, though, Southern got called for a few.

“Still, we need to be able to adjust. We can’t give up those points and win a match against a quality opponent.”

Ashleigh Dailey and Jessica Lea led the team in kills, finishing with 13 apiece.

Chelsea Herron and Lea finished with 23 assists apiece.

Grace DeBoodt recorded 12 kills.

The Raiders were led by Leah Bergstrom with 16 kills. Sarah Holgen and Leanne Stennett each finished with 10 kills.

The Mountaineers salvaged a split by defeating the Oregon Institute of Technology Saturday.

EOU (5-4, 3-1 CCC) dominated the match 25-11, 25-21, 25-21.

The errors by the setters shrunk to three against the Owls.

The Mountaineers gave Oregon Tech fits at the net, recording 11 team blocks.

Lisa Steinbach led the way with one solo block and five assisted blocks.

Lea, Dailey and Julie Butterfield each finished with three assisted blocks.

DeBoodt took control of the net on offense. She recorded 20 kills in the match.

Dailey and junior Haley McEnroe finished with 19 and 18 kills, respectively.

Lea finished with an all-around game. She tallied 13 kills, 16 assists and 10 digs.

Duncan capped a solid weekend with a team-high 12 digs.

Megan Christensen led Oregon Tech with seven kills. She also led the team with 12 digs.

Sarah Svedin had a team-high 13 assists.

The Mountaineers will travel to Portland for a pair of matches this weekend.

EOU opens with Concordia University (6-4, 2-1 CCC) Friday at  7 p.m. Saturday, the Mountaineers will take on Warner Pacific (5-4, 1-2 CCC).

Live stats will be available on eousports.com.