La Grande, Ore. – The Lady Wolves concluded their tough weekend against ranked opponents by traveling to La Grande for a Saturday night matchup against the No. 17-ranked Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon University. Unfortunately for the Wolves (0-11, 0-10 CCC), the Mountaineers (14-4, 9-1 CCC) would post a 1.8:1 kill ratio en route to a straight set victory over the Wolves. (25-12, 27-25 & 25-14)
Head coach Scott Schafer spoke after the game about his teams efforts. "Overall, I was happy with our effort tonight," said Schafer. "EOU is a great team and puts up a huge block which makes it tough on our hitters. We did reach some team goals in our serve/receive passing and offense which was important for us as a team."
In set one, the Lady Wolves would find themselves in an early deficit, 9-4, forcing Schafer to take a timeout. The Wolves could not overcome their slow start, as the Mountaineers would take advantage of 13 Wolves errors in the set en route to a 25-12 opening set victory.
The Lady Wolves would start off strong in set two and match the Mountaineers point for point. With the set knotted at six, the Wolves would go on a 5-0 run, highlighted by kills from Morgan Doyle, Sarah Halversen, and Jenn Bosler. The run would force the Mountaineers to take a timeout and they would respond with a quick 3-0 run to get right back in the set. The Wolves would then take advantage of multiple Mountaineers errors to increase their lead to 18-11. The Mountaineers would answer with a run of their own, putting together an 8-1 run to knot the set up at 19. The Wolves and Mountaineers would battle back and forth each scoring five points to knot the set up at 24. From here, an error by the Mountaineers would set up the Wolves one point away from a set two victory, however three attacking errors by the Wolves would hand the them a tough set two defeat, as they dropped the set, 25-27.
The Lady Wolves would have three minutes to put their tough set two loss behind them. Unfortunately for the Wolves, the Mountaineers would start off quickly and continue their momentum from the end of set two, putting the Wolves in a 6-2 deficit. The Wolves would counter, putting together a quick 3-1 run, highlighted by two Lauren Barlow kills. The Mountaineers would respond and extend their lead in the set, doubling up the Wolves, 18-9. From here, the Wolves could not overcome this deficit and would drop set three, 14-25 and fall to the No. 17-ranked Mountaineers in straight sets.
Lauren Barlow led the Wolves with seven kills, while Erika Dudar and Caldora Blackburn each contributed 10 digs.
By the Numbers
WWU 19 kills, EOU 35 kills
WWU 42 digs, EOU 32 digs
WWU 19 assists, EOU 30 assists
The Wolves look to rebound next weekend in Olympia, Wash. against Evergreen State College and avenge their loss earlier this month to the Geoducks. The match is scheduled to start at 8:00PM on Saturday, October 6 in the Costantino Recreation Center.
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