7A
Friday, December 6, 2019
The Observer
Early goal does
in EOU women as
they fall in NAIA
quarterfinals
Photo by Cindy Potter/Columbia College
Megan Bunn serves during Eastern Oregon’s match Thursday against Lindsey Wilson. Bunn had a program record
32 kills in the fi ve-set contest, which Lindsey Wilson won.
EOU finishes 2-1 in pool
■ Eastern drops final pool play match despite 32-kill performance from Megan Bunn
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Lindsey Wilson got
the best of Eastern Oregon University at
the NAIA national tournament again.
This time, though, it happened in a
match for the ages.
Elly Burke had the fi nal two kills of
the match, and the No. 10 Blue Raiders
(32-5 overall) sneaked by the No. 7
Mountaineers (31-4) in a fi ve-set clash
of the titans in both teams’ fi nal match
of pool play Thursday, 23-25, 23-25, 25-
23, 30-28, 15-13, offsetting a record day
from EOU senior Megan Bunn.
“It’s was a good match, (but) we have
to have somebody other than Megan
Bunn score a little more effi ciently. We
gotta have somebody (step up) when
push comes to shove,” EOU head coach
Kaki McLean-Morehead said.
Burke’s kills, her 14th and 15th of the
night, capped a comeback not only in
the fi nal set, but in the match for LWC,
which continues to have EOU’s number
when the teams meet at nationals. The
Blue Raiders topped EOU for the third
year in a row and fourth in fi ve years at
the national tournament.
None of the previous three matches
went the distance, nor were they this
close. Before Burke’s fi nal two kills to
end the match, the teams were even
in total points, 114-114. LWC fi nished
with just four more kills in the match
than EOU (79-75). Both teams saw
their setter put up 60 or more assists
and three players record 20 more digs.
“It could have gone the other way. In
those pressure situations we just didn’t
convert as much as I would have liked
to today,” McLean-Morehead said.
Junior setter Madison Pilon echoed a
similar sentiment.
“I think that we showed moments
of greatness, but in crucial times we
were going back to being safe instead of
lethal and terminating,” said Pilon, who
had 62 assists and 10 digs.
EOU seemed to have control of the
fi fth set, going up 10-5 after an ace by
Bunn and consecutive blocks by the
combo of Taylor Tibbetts and Jet Taylor.
LWC stormed back to score the next
points and go ahead 11-10 on a block by
Mariana Pratali and Alexis Smith.
“We had great plays and they had
great plays, but when we had opportu-
nities to take it away we let them back
in,” Bunn said.
Taylor evened the score with a kill,
but Smith followed with a kill and
Burke had a block to put the Blue Raid-
ers back up 13-11. Two attack errors by
LWC evened the score before Burke’s
two kills sealed the win and the top
seed in the pool.
The loss came despite a record-
setting day for Bunn who had 32 kills to
shatter the program record for kills in
a match.
“Whatever she’s eating, I want some
of that,” Pilon quipped. “She’s been
amazing. She’s played smart and con-
sistent every day this week.”
Bunn also had 20 digs as she posted
arguably the best single-match per-
formance in program history. She also
moved past 1,300 kills for her career,
and is just 75 shy of Amanda Miller’s
all-time mark of 1,391.
“She’s putting everything out there.
Really, really, really proud of her,”
McLean-Morehead said.
Bunn, though, wasn’t the only player
to crack the record book Thursday.
Pilon’s 62 assists were the third-highest
total in a match in program history. Ki-
ley McMurtrey had 27 digs to give her
637 on the season and move her within
11 of second on the single-season list, a
mark she’ll likely surpass Friday.
The team also posted the fourth-most
kills in a match in program history (75),
most kill attempts (243) and, with 103
digs as a team, and set the team record
for digs (2,373) and block assists (599)
in a season.
Bunn was one of four players in
double fi gures in kills for EOU, with
Tibbetts tallying 12 and both Taylor
and Breanna Shaffer adding 10, while
Cambree Scott had nine kills and
seven block assists. Defensively, Aspen
Photo by Zach Wadley/Marian University
Eastern Oregon’s Katie Arnold, left, keeps possession
during Wednesday’s match against Marian.
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
Eastern Oregon University
women’s soccer team saw
its deepest postseason run
ever end in the NAIA quar-
terfi nals.
Marian’s Drew Mason
scored the lone goal in the
seventh minute, and the
Knights fended off a late
surge from the Mountain-
eers to defeat EOU, 1-0,
Wednesday in Orange
Beach, Alabama during the
quarterfi nals of the NAIA
national tournament, bring-
ing an end to the Mountain-
eers’ season.
“It took us about 10-15
minutes to settle in,” head
coach Jacob Plocher said.
“(After) they got that goal,
we were able to recom-
pose and create some nice
chances. In the second half
we really started to create.
We switched our formation
up to get a little more at-
tacking. I cannot be upset or
even mad with the way the
ladies played. They played
their hearts out. It was a
great effort by everybody.
We thought truthfully if
the game had gone another
5-10 minutes we could have
got one to tie it up.”
See Soccer / Page 9A
See Pool / Page 7A
Staff photo by Ronald Bond
EOU has little issue with Reinhardt
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The
Eastern Oregon University
volleyball team had no issues
with the early wake-up call.
A big day from senior
outside hitter Megan Bunn
helped.
“Today we took a deep
breath and played more to-
gether as a team, more con-
sistent as a team and (were)
doing what we needed,” head
coach Kaki McLean-More-
head said.
Bunn had her second 20-
kill performance of the NAIA
national tournament, and
the No. 7 Mountaineers had
little trouble with Reinhardt
(Georgia) in its second pool
play match Wednesday in
Sioux City, Iowa, sweeping
the Eagles, 25-18, 25-14,
25-16.
“We were much more ef-
fective,” McLean-Morehead
said. “Our defense was on
point, for sure. All the way
around we did a much better
job and played much more
consistently.”
La Grande’s Kaleb Myer scored a game-high 19 points
Wednesday in the Tigers’ game against Hermiston.
Tigers drop home
opener to Dawgs
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
Photo by Cindy Potter/Columbia College
Eastern Oregon’s Cambree Scott, left, and Madison Pilon, right, are shown Tuesday
during a match against Madonna (Michigan) Tuesday. EOU beat both Madonna and
Reinhardt (Georgia) to win its fi rst two pool play matches.
Bunn was remarkably
effi cient Wednesday, posting
a season-best kill percent-
age of .528, which is among
the top performances of her
career. Only four other times
has she been more accurate
on the attack, and in none of
those matches did she put up
the number of kill attempts
(36) that she did Wednesday.
“She was swinging. She
did a nice job of using the
block,” McLean-Morehead
said. “She was really effec-
tive and (was) behind the
ball, and could see (the court)
really well.”
The effort also further
cemented Bunn’s spot in
See Sweep / Page 9A
LA GRANDE — The
Hermiston boys basketball
team used balanced scoring
and crisp passing — an em-
phasis of head coach Drew
Preuninger — to pick up a
win in its season opener.
Jaime Ramirez led four
players in scoring with 12
points, and the Bulldogs
never trailed in defeating
the La Grande Tigers on
the road Wednesday, 60-44.
“That’s one thing we’ve
been really working on
is trying to pass more,”
Preuninger said. “I know in
the past we usually dribble-
drive. I’m trying to get
more passing, cutting (and)
screening away.”
Hermiston’s perimeter
passing and kickouts led to
four fi rst-half 3-pointers as
the Bulldogs built a 29-19
halftime lead, and seven
3s on the night. But in the
second half it was interior
passing that helped set up
baskets in the paint and
helped Hermiston even-
tually pull away, and it’s
something the coach will
continue to emphasize.
“I would love to see them
get it inside more, though,”
Peuninger said. “That’s
one thing at halftime I was
saying (to the team). I know
we don’t have height, but if
we get it inside it opens up
the outside....They did it a
couple more times (in the
second half) which I was
happy about.”
Ramirez, Ivan Rangel
and Trent Pitney were
among those who got into
the paint to score for the
Bulldogs in the second half.
Two layups by Ramirez, a
See Tigers / Page 9A