Cavs End Regular Season with 31 Win against Eastern Oregon

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(Portland, Oregon) - Raluca Dinca posted 17 kills and Erika Doremus added 10 in their final home match as Concordia defeated Eastern Oregon 3-1 (25-22, 15-25, 25-18, 25-9) in Cascade Collegiate Conference volleyball action Saturday night in Cavalier Gymnasium.

With the win, Concordia improves to 19-8 overall, 14-4 in the CCC. Eastern Oregon falls to 13-11, 9-9 in the CCC with the loss.

The first set was the closest of the match, featuring seven tie scores and four lead changes. Eastern Oregon jumped ahead to four-point leads at 7-3 and 8-4 before Concordia opened a 13-5 run to take a 17-13 lead. The Cavs took a set-high five-point lead at 22-17, but Eastern Oregon scored five of the next six points to pull within one at 23-22 before the Cavs closed out the set on a pair of Dinca kills.

The second set was all Eastern Oregon, as the Mountaineers out-hit the Cavs .415-to-.200 in the game. Eastern Oregon jumped out to a 9-3 lead and never looked back, posting nine-point leads at 17-8, 20-11 and 21-12 before reaching their match-high 11-point advantage at 24-13. The Cavs scored two of the next three points, but Jessica Lea’s kill finished the 25-15 set victory for Eastern Oregon. Lea contributed seven of her team-high 14 kills in the set.

Concordia bounced back in the third set, recovering from a brief early two-point deficit to finish the set on an 18-11 run to take a 2-1 advantage in the match. Clair Thiel () tallied six of her 11 kills in the set to help the Cavs to the 25-18 victory.

The final set was tied early at 2-2, but Concordia scored 10 of the next 12 points to take a 12-4 lead. The Cavaliers continued to dominate play in the deciding set, finishing on a 23-7 run and out-hitting the visitors .516-to-.056 to earn the 3-1 match victory.

Lindsay Mangan (Huntington Beach, Calif./Marina H.S.) contributed 52 assists for the Cavaliers as CU honored seniors Dinca (Portland, Ore./David Douglas H.S.), Doremus (Port Orchard, Wash./South Kitsap H.S.) and Taryn Baker (Silverdale, Wash./Central Kitsap H.S.).

Concordia is the third seed in the CCC volleyball tournament and will play the No. 2 seed College of Idaho Nov. 12 at 4 p.m. in Ashland in the CCC semifinals. The winner will face either Southern Oregon or Northwest for the title on Saturday.

Source: Concordia University Athletics www.gocugo.com