KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Despite a season and game high 23 kills from senior Nicole Reyes, No. 5-ranked Corban University escaped Danny Miles Court with an epic five-set win and went on to hand upset-minded Oregon Tech a tough Cascade Collegiate Conference loss 3-2, (25-16, 22-25, 25-19, 17-25, 17-15) Friday night.
 
"I am so proud of how our team responded after the first set," said head coach Ken Murczek. "We put ourselves in a position to upset the #5 team in the country and unfortunately didn't finish. We learned a lot tonight and will need to regroup for another ranked opponent tomorrow night in Bushnell."
 
The match started with the Warriors dominating the Owls with a 25-16 easy set 1 win.
 
Set two was a bit different with OIT jumping out to a 12-6 lead behind four early kills by Reyes. Corban responded and cut Tech's lead to 20-22, and 23-22 before back-to-back kills by Reyes that gave the Owls a 25-22 set 2 win.
 
Set 3 was back-and-forth early. Tied at 17-17, Corban then ran off six straight points and never looked back, winning 25-19.
 
The Owls rode the ruckus home crowd momentum winning set four 25-17 to force a decisive fifth and final set to 15.
 
Set 5 gave everyone something to cheer for. Tech took an early 11-6 lead, but the Warriors proved why they are the No.5 team in the country 11 of the next 15 points to win17-15.
 
After Reyes' 23, Tech got 15 kills from Kaylin Talonen (15), and 5 each from Faith Houck-Wylie, and Ashley Ripplinger.
 
The Warriors had three players in double digits in kills in the win, led by Rylee Troutman with 18, 12 from Allyson Reid, and 11 from Avari Ridgway.
 
The Warriors hit at an exceptional .252 pace while Tech hit at .196.
 
Oregon Tech will host Bushnell University Saturday at 5:00 pm while the Warriors hit the road to Ashland for a matchup with Southern Oregon. The Raiders downed Bushnell 3-0 on Friday night. 
 
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