Corban Falls to Eastern Oregon in Conference Opener

Eastern Oregon was led by Grace Deboodt's match-high 17 kills.

Salem-News.com Sports

SALEM, Ore. - Despite a team-high seven kills by freshman Morgan Hirzel (Fullerton, Calif.), Corban's women's volleyball team fell to nationally-ranked Eastern Oregon, 3-0 (21-25, 14-25, 18-25), Friday night inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.

Corban's Morgan Hirzel

Coming into tonight's match both teams were riding a one-match winning streak, as the Warriors picked up their first win of the season one week ago in a neutral site match against Simpson University out of Northern California.

Unfortunately for Corban, it could not continue its winning ways as Eastern Oregon held the host Warriors to less than 10.0% (26-20-102) hitting as Corban committed 20 attack errors on the night.

In the opening set, both teams battled back and forth until Eastern Oregon took a five-point lead (17-12) following a Warrior attack error.

Corban rebounded using a 5-0 run to pull even at 17-apiece when Hirzel recorded her fourth kill of the opening frame.

With the score 20-19 in favor of Eastern Oregon after a kill by Corban freshman Chandra Baskoro (Gresham, Ore.), the visiting Mountaineers used a 4-0 run that sealed the opening set by four points (25-21).

Corban's Chandra Baskoro

Set #2 was much more in favor of Eastern Oregon, as the visiting Mountaineers jumped out to a quick eight-point lead (19-11) before cruising to an 11-point victory (25-14).

In the frame, Corban could only muster six combined kills as a team with freshman Karisa Calderon (Murrieta, Calif.) registering half of the Warriors' attacks.

In the third and final set, both teams fought hard over the opening 21 combined points as Corban pulled within a single point (11-10) following a combo block by sophomore Tiffany Land (Independence, Ore.) and freshman Jenny Harman (Salem, Ore.).

Following the crowd-pleasing play, Eastern Oregon used a 10-6 run to take what would turn out to be a insurmountable lead (21-16) following a Warrior attack error.

The visiting Mountaineers would close out the set and match via a Chelsea Herron service ace that handed EOU the 25-19 victory and the match in straight sets.

Corban's Karisa Calderon

Besides Hirzel, the freshmen duo of Baskoro and Calderon added five kills each to go along with Calderon's team-high 15 assists.

Defensively, junior Rebecca Franke (Pendleton, Ore.) registered a match-high 17 digs to go along with Land and Harman's match-high three blocks each.

Eastern Oregon was led by Grace Deboodt's match-high 17 kills, while Jessica Lea and Melanie Ceciliani added eight kills each.

Lea missed out on a triple-double by two kills after registering 16 assists and a team-high 13 digs, while Herron led the Mountaineers with a match-high 19 assists.

Following tonight's result, Corban falls to 1-6 overall and 0-1 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play.

Meanwhile, Eastern Oregon evens its overall record at 3-3 and improves to 1-0 in CCC action.

The Warriors will return to the court on tomorrow night – Saturday, September 5th – when they face the NAIA's No. 18-ranked Coyotes of The College of Idaho beginning at 7:00 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.

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