SPORTS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019
THE OBSERVER — 9A
No. 3 Mounties get two more wins EOU football falls
Observer staff
The No. 3 Eastern Oregon volley-
ball team locked up its 24th and 25th
victories of the season over the week-
end, taking down Northwest in four
sets Friday and sweeping Evergreen
Saturday in its road trip against the
Washington school.
On Friday, EOU shook off a first-set
loss to come back and top the Eagles,
24-26, 25-21, 25-17, 25-20, behind a
massive performance by Megan Bunn.
The senior led all players with 22
kills and 25 digs, and recorded the first
20-20 game of her career. Her effort was
a season-high in kills and matched her
career-best — she reached 22 kills in a
match twice in 2018 — and her dig total
was the second highest of her career.
EOU setter Madison Pilon also had a
career night with 50 assists, Jet Taylor
added 10 kills and five block assists, and
both Hailee Ackerman and Cambree
Scott had nine kills. Scott, Pilon and
Taylor Tibbetts each added four blocks,
with one of Tibbetts’ a solo effort.
EOU was on the cusp of a first-set win
when a Pilon and Taylor block and a ser-
vice error by Northwest put the Moun-
taineers up 24-22. The Eagles, however,
responded with the final four points to
grab the early lead on a Tatiana Ensz
kill and an Eastern attack error.
The rest of the night belonged to
EOU. Bunn had four kills during a 9-2
run to end the second set — one that
Tibbetts finished with a kill — and a
9-1 run to end the third gave EOU the
lead. Bunn had three kills and Acker-
man two during the run.
EOU never trailed during the final
set, one that saw Bunn put down eight
kills and Tibbetts and Scott finish the
match with back to back kills.
Aspen Christiansen added 19 digs for
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Mills said of the team. “Every
game is (like) a cup final. If
we can do this, we can really
take it into the tournament
and have a good attitude,
good mentality, and we’ll see
what happens there.”
One of those teams in
that mix, Warner Pacific, is
Eastern’s next opponent.
Warner Pacific is currently
in eighth place for the final
spot in the CCC tournament
at 5-4-2. Eastern is in 10th.
“We’re under a lot of pres-
sure,” said Oscar Munoz,
who scored in both games
over the weekend. “We’re
in a situation where every
game matters. Every game
is a do or die.”
In both wins, another
trend continued for the
Mountaineers, one that has
hurt it at times this season,
but ultimately didn’t this
weekend — struggling to
finish matches.
In Friday’s win, the
Mountaineers scored twice
in the first half, getting
goals from Jorge Chavez
and Munoz for a 2-0 lead at
the half.
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Continued from Page 7A
to the Mountaineers’ hopes
for a third-straight CCC
title. Eastern remains in
third place in the CCC at
7-2-1 but did get some help
from College of Idaho, which
knocked off Northwest on
Saturday. The Eagles are
still atop the conference at
9-1, while Oregon Tech is in
second at 8-0-2. Northwest
and Oregon Tech play next
weekend in Klamath Falls.
Plocher said the reality
of EOU’s conference title
hopes likely being gone,
could serve as a benefit.
“Honestly, (it’s) prob-
ably a good thing. Now the
pressure and the stress of
trying to three-peat (and)
trying to be perfect can go
away,” he said. “Now it’s,
‘Let’s focus. Let’s get back to
playing how we’re capable
of playing, and we’ll make a
run for it at the conference
tournament.’”
Northwest took only three
shots on Friday, but made
them count. The Eagles took
a 1-0 lead on a goal by Callie
Wright from the edge of the
on the road to
Montana Tech
Observer staff
Ronald Bond/Observer file photo
Megan Bunn, shown Oct. 19 against Walla Walla, had 22 kills and 25 as-
sists in Eastern Oregon’s win over Northwest Friday.
Eastern, and Sade Williams had 16.
The Mountaineers had less problem
with Evergreen Saturday, sweeping
the Geoducks 25-16, 25-19, 25-22.
Bunn again led the Mountaineers’
offense, finishing with 15 kills in the
match. Scott and Tibbetts added nine
and eight kills, respectively. Bunn
added 12 digs for another double-dou-
ble. Kiley McMurtrey led Eastern with
17 digs and Christiansen had 16. Pilon
had 35 assists.
Eastern took the lead for good in the
first set with a 5-1 run — one that fea-
tured back-to-back aces by Kaci Cox —
for a 7-4 lead. EOU extended its lead
to five on several occasions during the
set, then scored the final five points
“Today we came out
strong. We played a great
first half,” Munoz said.
“Second half was a little bit
shaky, but we stayed com-
pact and did our job.”
In that second half, the
Eagles scored in the 56th
minute on a goal from Gian
Herrera to get within 2-1
and had opportunities for
the equalizer, but failed to
pull even.
EOU has given up 19
second-half goals in CCC
play this season but just six
in the first half, and none in
the first half of its last five
contests.
“We’ve been talking about
what is keeping us from
finishing games off, because
we’ll be up and we’ll let
them come back,” Mills said.
“It’s good that we’ve been
talking about it because
mentally they prepared
themselves in case they got
up to hold (the lead). They
played with some compo-
sure. I think they did much
better (Friday) with relaxing
(and) knowing they could do
the job.”
Max Rose had a save in
goal for EOU Friday, which
had an 11-6 shot advantage.
net in the 23rd minute and
then went up 2-0 in the 52nd
minute when Olivia Morris
hit a high-arching shot from
about 35 yards out into a
nearly unreachable spot at
the top of the net.
The deficit was cut to
one with a goal by Sarah
Mitchell in the 64th minute,
but numerous opportunities
the Mountaineers had both
earlier in the match and
after Mitchell’s goal either
went just wide — a header
at the post by Mackinley
Gregus missed by a couple
feet — or were stopped by
Kat Sanchez, who had six
saves for the Eagles. San-
chez denied two shots by
Nan Kiebert — one in each
half. Four of her saves came
in the second half.
“Their keeper is really
good,” Plocher said. “She
made some really good
saves to keep them in it.”
Plocher said he was proud
of his team for showing its
mettle despite being in a
spot is isn’t in often — down
by multiple goals at home.
“There were some
unlucky breaks, but at
the same time I liked our
to take the set on a Geoducks’ attack
error.
An 11-1 run by Eastern in the
second set turned an early deficit into
a 12-5 lead after a kill by Taylor. Ev-
ergreen got as close at four points late
in the set before Eastern took the 2-0
lead on a Geoducks service error.
Eastern trailed a large portion of
the third before going on a 10-3 run —
which included the final four points —
for the match.
The Mountaineers (25-1 overall,
15-1 CCC) host Southern Oregon in
yet another matchup of top 10 teams
Friday at Quinn Coliseum. EOU can
clinch the CCC title if it knocks off
SOU Friday and OIT Saturday.
Ronald Bond/The Observer
Eastern Oregon’s Jorge Chavez, left, scored a goal in
the Mountaineers’ win over Northwest Friday.
On Saturday, Eastern
again built a 2-0 lead, this
time on a first-half goal by
Munoz and a second-half
goal by Javier Moran.
Evergreen staged a furi-
ous rally to pull even, scor-
ing two goals in six minutes
— including one that came
after the Geoducks were
tagged with a red card and
forced to finish playing 10-
on-11 — with less than six
minutes to play. Joe DiCarlo
and Tino Pantaleon scored
for Evergreen.
But Eastern found a way
to escape with the victory
as Erik Mattice scored on
a free kick with just 2:28 to
play in the match.
Rose had three saves for
EOU Saturday.
The Mountaineers (7-8-1
overall, 5-6 CCC) host War-
ner Pacific Saturday evening.
Ronald Bond/The Observer
Eastern Oregon’s Kaitlyn McLeod plays a ball upfield
during EOU’s match against Northwest Friday.
composure,” he said. “I liked
our ability to stay calm and
create opportunities.”
Eastern bounced back
from the loss to blank Ever-
green Saturday.
The Mountaineers took a
1-0 lead into the break on a
goal by Gregus in the 20th
minute, then put the game
away with two goals in just
over seven minutes in the
second half, as Anna Hager
and Erika Skindlov each
found the back of the net.
The Mountaineers pep-
pered the Geoducks’ net to
the tune of 20 shots. Cydni
Cottrell, who had just one
save Friday, stopped four
shots on Saturday.
Eastern (10-2-2 overall,
7-2-1 CCC) hosts Warner
Pacific Saturday.
The game was much closer
this time, but the East-
ern Oregon football team
struggled to get its offense in
gear in a 23-10 road loss to
Montana Tech Saturday in
Frontier Conference play in
Butte, Montana.
EOU didn’t get on the
board until the fourth
quarter, when a 32-yard
Jaiden Machuca field goal
made it 16-3. Eastern then
drew closer thanks to its
special teams, when Derrick
Fontenot blocked a punt and
Josh Mendoza returned the
blocked kick 30 yards for
a touchdown to get within
16-10 with 9:59 to play. But
Tech running back Blake
Counts’ third touchdown of
the day pushed the margin
back to 13 with just over six
minutes to go.
The Mountaineers man-
aged just 171 yards of total
offense, and only 43 on the
ground, the fifth time this
season Eastern has been held
under 100 yards rushing.
EOU, though, hung tough
after a rough first quarter
that saw it fall behind 13-0
after two short rushing
touchdowns by Counts, who
had 134 yards on the ground.
Victor Dias had 60 yards
rushing and 47 yards receiv-
ing for EOU, and Kai Quinn
was 12-for-35 passing for 128
yards and an interception.
Tech quarterback Jet
Campbell had 159 yards on
11-for-18 passing.
EOU (2-6 overall, 2-5
Frontier) hosts No. 7 and
undefeated College of Idaho
Saturday.
Women come in
third, men fifth at
William Jessup
Observer staff
Michelle Herbes and Me-
gan Boals both finished in
the top 10 to power the No.
23 Eastern Oregon women’s
cross county team to a third-
place finish at the William
Jessup Warrior Invite Sat-
urday in Rocklin, California,
while Alex Navarro’s fifth-
place effort helped the No. 19
EOU men take fifth.
Herbes, who came in fourth,
and Boals, who was seventh,
finished less than seven
seconds apart. Herbes clocked
in with a time of 18:03.8, and
Boals finished in 18:10.0. The
Mountaineers finished as a
team in group of Cascade Col-
legiate Conference programs,
with College of Idaho (53
points) winning the meet,
followed by Southern Oregon
(82), Eastern Oregon (104)
and Oregon Tech (114).
The Mountaineers’
third-place finisher, Katie
Jo Gebhardt, followed about
a minute later in 34th with
a time of 19:18.0. The rest
of Eastern’s top five was
MacKenzie Trainer (19:26.0)
in 38th and Stormy Bullard
(19:27.8) in 40th.
The men’s team finished
with 158 points for its fifth-
place standing, trailing Col-
lege of Idaho (36), Southern
Oregon (67), The Masters
(California) College (94) and
Oregon Tech (124).
Navarro, who crossed the
finish line in 24:46.7 for his
fifth-place showing, was one
of two runners in the top five
for EOU, followed by Travis
Running (25:16.8) in 16th.
Hunter Schiess (25:56.8)
finished in 42nd for EOU,
with Hunter Nichols
(26:14.0) and Brennen LeBel
(26:35.4) taking 51st and
67th, respectively.
Eastern returns to the
course Nov. 8 for the CCC
championships in Cottage
Grove.
Men’s wrestling
opens with four
wins at Simpson
Observer staff
The Eastern Oregon men’s
wrestling team opened the
season with four solid victo-
ries at the Simpson Duals
in Redding, California, on
Saturday. The Mountaineers
blanked host Simpson, 46-0,
scored 38 points in wins over
both Sacramento City Col-
lege (38-6) and Lassen Col-
lege (38-12) and had a 35-9
win over Sierra College.
“It was a good opener to
get our men some mat time
and experience traveling,”
head coach Dustyn Azure
said. “They responded well to
wins and losses, and contin-
ued to try and put points on
the board.”
EOU had four wins by
forfeit against Simpson,
and picked up six points on
Keegan Mulhill’s second-
round pin at 174 pounds.
Marco Retano scored a 13-3
major decision at 184, and
Eastern earned wins by deci-
sion from Hunter Nees (4-3
at 125), Jesse Camacho (9-3
at 157) John Bittinger (9-5 at
165) and Ryan Redford (6-1
at 197).
The Mountaineers won
eight matches against Sacra-
mento City, including getting
four victories by fall from
Camacho, Bittinger, Retano
and Redford. Monte Zufelt
(12-4 at 133) and Jared
Brant (16-3 at 149) each
earned major decisions, and
both Blake McNall (7-4 at
141) and Mulhill (8-1) added
wins by decision.
EOU was tested in the
lower weights against Lassen
College, taking three early
losses, but dominated the
middle and upper weights for
the win. Mulhill and Retano
picked up victories by fall,
and Bittinger (24-9) and Red-
ford (18-3) won by technical
fall. Camacho added a 15-2
major decision, and EOU also
had two wins by forfeit.
The Mountaineers secured
eight wins against Sierra
College and, unlike the bout
against Lassen, owned the
lower weights. Both McNall
(13-2) and Brant (11-1)
earned major decisions.
Nees (7-4) and Camacho
(11-8) won close matches by
decision, and Zufelt won by
injury. At the upper weights,
Mulhill won by fall and Red-
ford eked out a 6-4 decision.
The Mountaineers added a
win by forfeit.
EOU returns to the mat
Saturday against North
Idaho College.
E