ROCKLIN, Calif. – Oregon Tech (2-1) opened up the Warrior classic Friday morning with a three-set sweep of Simpson University 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-13). The Owls then lost a 5-set thriller to the host school William Jessup 2-3 (19-25, 19-25, 25-17, 26-24, 10-15) at Warrior Arena.
 
Head coach Ken Murczek had this to say on the Owls' play today, "Great start today for an early morning 9am match against Simpson. The team did a nice job of executing and made improvements from our match against them last week. We started off a little rough in the afternoon match against the host school William Jessup but battled back to push it to a 5th set. Unfortunately, we lacked execution in the 5th and ended up on the wrong side. I look forward to seeing how we respond tomorrow against Menlo and Merced."
 
Match 1 Oregon Tech 3 Simpson 0
 
OIT jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the first set, increased that lead to 22-12 and finished off the Red Hawks 25-15. The Owls held Simpson to a negative hit percentage of -.29 while they hit at .148 pace.
 
Tech had 17 kills in the second set as they hit at a .324 pace. With the set tied at 18 the Owls went on a 7-0 run to win 25-18.
 
The third set was all OIT as Tech jumped out quick with an 8-1 lead as Alicia Volk served four straight points. The Owls hit their best in the set with .333 kill percentage while holding Simpson to a .077 %.
 
Kaylin Talonen led Tech with 13 kills with Nicole Reyes adding 8, and Ashley Ripplinger chipping in 6 in the win.
 
Paige Tevelde led OIT with 17 assists with Courtney Isom dropping 15. Isom, Lindsey Sampson and Aubrey Kievit led the Owls with 9-digs each.
 
Match 2 William Jessup 3 Oregon Tech 2
 
William Jessup came out on fire with back-to-back 25-19 set wins to take a 2-0 lead. The Owls answered winning set 3 in dominating fashion 25-16.
 
The fourth set was a back-and-forth affair, with the score tied five time before the Warriors opened up a 17-12 lead. Tech answered with three straight points but the Warriors answered back to take a 19-15 lead. Tech again rallied with three straight points to draw within one at 19-18. The Owls tied the set at 22, and then took a 24-22 lead only to see WJU tie it 24. Back-to-back kills by Nicole Reyes gave the Owls the 26-24 set win to force a fifth and final set.
 
The fifth set was again another battle early before the Warriors went on a 5-1 run to open up a 9-5 edge. Tech rolled off three straight to make it 9-8 but the Warriors would not be denied, as they finish off the Owls winning six of the final eight points to win 15-10.
 
Reyes had a game high 16 kills to lead Tech with Talonen powering 13, and Houck-Wylie adding 11 in the loss.
 
Tevelde once again led Tech with 21 assists with Isom dropping 20.  
 
Kievit had 16 digs holding down the back line for the Owls.
 
Tech plays twice on Saturday with games against Menlo at 1:00 PM and UC Merced at 5:00 PM in Rocklin.
 
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