Warriors open with heart breaker against Eastern Oregon

September 9, 2005

BOX SCORE

SALEM, Ore. - Junior Hallie McNaughton (Bend, Ore.) led Corban College with 13 kills, but it was not enough as the Warriors fell to Eastern Oregon in a heart-breaker, 3-2 (30-25, 21-30, 25-30, 30-27, 11-15), on Friday night in their home opener.

In the first game, the Warriors were led by freshman Chelsea Reeher (Powell Butte, Ore.), as she recorded 4 kills and helped the team to a hitting percentage of .188 (17-8-48).  Senior setter Ashley Walbridge (Troutdale, Ore.) led the team in assists with 15, while junior libero Becky Horn (Troutdale, Ore.) anchored the Warriors’ back line with 5 digs.

In game two and three, things began to fall apart for Corban as they allowed Eastern Oregon to hit .304 (17-3-46) in game two and .160 (15-7-50) in game three to take command of the match.  Horn recorded 14 digs for Corban, while the Warriors recorded a combined 24 kills as a team.

Down two games to one, and trailing by 6 points (23-17), the Warriors battled back to tie the fourth game at 27-apiece thanks to a 10-4 run that included two kills by junior Nina Clanton (Hillsboro, Ore.) and 1 each by McNaughton and sophomore Ashley Lange (Salem, Ore.).  The visiting Moutaineers did not help their cause thanks to 4 hitting errors, but the crowd pulled the Warriors back into the game and led them to the victory.

Things began on a high note for the Warriors in game five, but quickly went downhill.  Thanks to a service error by Eastern Oregon, Corban took the early lead, but watched as the visiting Mountaineers went on a 14-5 run and looked at match point.  Corban battled back to within 3 points (14-11), but then Eastern Oregon’s Keri Brown put the match away with her 15th kill of the night.

Along with McNaughton, Reeher and Clanton recorded 11 kills each.  Walbridge recorded a match-high 45 assists, while Horn recorded 25 digs. Five other Corban players recorded double-digit figures in digs.

Jennifer Luatua led EOU with a match-high 18 kills, while Brown and Jeanna Romer added 15 and 12 kills respectively.  Mary Branch led the Mountaineers with a match-high 45 assists, while Luatua anchored EOU’s back line with a match-high 34 digs.