No. 1 Mountaineers to Host Mobile in NAIA Championship Opening Round
By Garrett Christensen on Tuesday, November 15th, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – (Release from Eastern Oregon University) The NAIA announced all qualifiers and opening round pairings for the 2022 NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Championship Opening Round on Monday morning. It comes as no surprise that the No. 1 ranked Mountaineers are hosting their opening round matchup as it was announced that they will be taking on the Rams from the University of Mobile (Ala.) in La Grande, Ore.
This year’s bid to the National Tournament marks the ninth straight appearance for the Mounties. Eastern has made it to the big stage every year dating back to 2014.
As the top team in the nation, the CCC Regular-Season Champion and the CCC Tournament Champion, Eastern earned hosting rights to play the Opening Round of the National Tournament at home inside Quinn Coliseum. EOU will take on the Rams at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19.
The Mountaineers are coming off a historic regular-season run that has seen them pick up accomplishments and awards left and right. Finishing the regular-season with only two losses, Eastern currently sits at 30-2 on the year and is in the midst of its second double-digit win streak in 2022 having won their last 11 matches.
Defense has been the Mountaineers strongest facet this season. More specifically, it has been their play at the net that has helped lift the Mounties to a No. 1 ranking as they currently lead the nation in total blocks and blocks per set with 317 and 2.93 respectively. Senior, Cambree Scott and junior, Kara Clayton both rank inside the top five in the nation in blocks per set (Scott ranks first, Clayton fifth).
Offensively, Eastern has proven that they can hit with the best in the country thanks to a very balanced attack. Leading the way has been senior, Preslee Jensen with 280 kills. In total, Eastern has four players with more than 200 kills (Jensen, Scott, Sade Williams, and Madison Morgan) and one player who is just four kills away from breaking into that category (Clayton). As a team EOU has averaged 12.66 kills per set while hitting .211.
Their opponent this coming Saturday has put up strong numbers through 36 matches on the year sitting at 24-12. The Rams average 12.15 kills per set and are hitting .203 on the year as a team. Defensively they average 1.73 blocks per set and 15.93 digs per set. Eastern holds the advantage in nearly every statistical category, but the Rams do have a strong service game averaging 2.26 service aces per set compared to the Mounties’ 1.41.
Individually the Rams are led by senior outside hitter, Abby Andrews and freshman outside hitter Corrina Porch-Maxey. Andrews leads all players in kills between both teams with 306 while the freshman has totaled 270 on the year. The senior averages 2.53 kills per set while Porch-Maxey averages a team-leading 2.55.
The two teams will go head-to-head on Saturday at 1 p.m. inside Quinn Coliseum. The winner will earn their spot as one of 24 teams to make it to the final site, the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. Pool play is scheduled to begin on Wednesday Nov. 30.
