POMONA, Calif. – The Western Oregon University volleyball team showed a lot of fight in the season opener on Thursday night. Trailing 2-0 to Concordia University Irvine, the Wolves fought back with a pair of set wins to force the match to a decisive fifth set. The Eagles survived the comeback holding off the Wolves for the 3-2 win (25-14, 25-15, 21-25, 16-25, 15-11) on the opening day of the Cal Poly Pomona Tournament.
In the first set, the Eagles jumped out to a 12-4 lead. Points from Lauren Smith and Makenzie York down the stretch helped bring WOU a little closer, but the early lead CUI built was too much to overcome as they claimed the opening set, 25-14.
CUI came out with a quick burst in the second set as well moving in front 8-1. A stretch of points from Lauren Smith, Bella Maclellan and Sophie Matlock brought WOU back to within six before the Eagles took the second set by a score of 25-15.
The third set started out just like the previous two with CUI moving out to an 8-2 lead. WOU kept pushing, eventually evening the set at 14 with three straight kills from Isabel Hurliman, Madison Hornback and Maclellan. Following a point by the Eagles, WOU reeled off the next three points to move ahead. Lauren Smith opened the run with a kill and after a solo block from Hornback, York had the Wolves up at 17-15 with a kill. In front 22-20, WOU closed strong scoring three of the final four points. Hurliman contributed on all three points with two kills and combined with Maclellan for a block to give WOU the 25-21 third set victory.
WOU moved out to the early 6-4 lead in the fourth set. The Wolves then broke open a 6-all tie with the next six points. Hornback started it with a kill. Sarah Crowell, York and Laney O'Neil all added points around three errors by the Eagles to move the Wolves to a 12-6 lead. WOU kept the pressure coming, not allowing the Eagles into the set. Holding a 18-14 lead, WOU went on a 7-2 run to take the set. Down the stretch, Hornback, Crowell, York, O'Neil and Hurliman all posted big points for the 25-16 fourth set win to move the match to a fifth set. Four of the final five points were all tallied off kills by the Wolves.
The fifth set was tight out of the gate, with the teams tied at three. CUI moved out to a pair of two-point leads and holding a 10-8 advantage. WOU fought back to even the set at 10 with a kill by Hurliman. The Eagles then caught fire over the final points collecting four straight kills to move to match point. Lauren Smith extended the match with a kill before a service error ended the match with the Eagles escaping with the 15-11 fifth set and 3-2 match win.
For the match, WOU held the edge in kills (52-49), blocks (10-6) and assists (46-42). It was close in the other stats as well with CUI holding the edge in service aces (8-5) and digs (54-51).
WOU tallied 52 kills to 25 errors in 143 chances to hit .189. CUI posted 49 kills to 18 errors in 129 chances to hit .240.
Hurliman paced the Wolves with 13 kills, followed by 11 from Hornback and 10 from Lauren Smith. Matlock tallied a pair of service aces and Laney O'Neil had 26 assists. On defense, Maclellan sent back four blocks, while Matlock had 19 digs.
Daniela Poles led the Eagles with 13 kills. Brianna Latigue had 35 assists and Cassidy Gelacio recorded 26 digs.
WOU will continue the Cal Poly Pomona Tournament on Friday with a pair of matches. First, they open with Cal State Dominguez Hills at 10 a.m. and then close the day with host Cal Poly Pomona at 7 p.m. Live video and stats will once again be available for both matches.
