COMING UP: Cascade Conference Championships (First Round) – at Bushnell, Tuesday, 7 p.m.
COMPLETE WEEKLY MEDIA NOTEBOOK
GAME DAY INFORMATION: Live Video of Tuesday's match will be available for fans not traveling to the Willamette Valley – live on the
Owls Sports Network (produced by Bushnell), with Live Stats via OIT's
SIDEARM Stat Portal.
MULTIMEDIA: All photos from the 2023 season will be posted online via the
OIT Volleyball Flickr Page, while highlight clips and interviews will be posted online via the new
OIT Volleyball You Tube Channel.
OPPONENT PREVIEW – BUSHNELL: Four days after the two teams met in Eugene, the Lady Owls make the trip back to Lane County for a rematch with the Beacons (15-11). BU has an offense that averages 11.3 kills and a defense that posts nearly two aces and two blocks per set. The trio of Halle Neumann (2.40 k/s, 0.66 b/s), Maddy Ladd (2.32 k/s, 0.76 b/s) and Leah Agost (2.24 k/s, 0.38 b/s) anchor the attack, with setters Katie Belitz (4.71 a/s, 1.37 d/s, 27 aces) and Peyton Ritchie (4.80 a/s, 1.55 d/s) key to the Beacons success. Defensively, Bella Parque (4.89 d/s, 30 aces) serves as the libero.
HISTORY VS. THE BEACONS: OIT and Bushnell meet for the 37th time, with the Lady Owls holding a 19-17 series edge – but the Beacons swept the regular-season series. BU claimed a 5-set win over Tech in Klamath in September, with the Beacons sweeping the Owls on Friday night. Maddy Ladd combined for 21 kills and Halle Neumann combined for 19 kills in the two matches for BU, while
Molly Grace had 39 total kills in the two contests for Tech. The Beacons hold a 9-8 series lead in matches in Eugene, with their recent over Tech the sixth win over the Lady Owls in the last seven meetings.
8-TEAM TOURNAMENT: The Cascade Conference expanded the league championship tournament to eight teams in 2023 – including a play-in round between the No. 5 through No. 8 seeds. It is the first time the league has conducted an 8-team tournament since the early 1990s – when Best-of-3 matches were conducted in a round-robin format. In 2007, the CCC did not host a tournament – with the NAIA Region I tourney hosting eight teams. This year, the top seeds (Eastern Oregon, Corban) earn byes to the semifinals, with the No. 3-4 seeds (Southern Oregon, College of Idaho) earning byes to the quarterfinals. The lowest remaining seed after the first-round will meet Southern Oregon, with the other winner facing College of Idaho – at the final site in La Grande, Ore. – this Friday.
LADY OWLS POSTSEASON HISTORY: With their win at Walla Walla on Oct. 20, OIT clinched their third CCC Tournament berth in the last four seasons and their 16th all-time CCC Tournament bid. The Lady Owls have a 10-19 all-time record in the tournament – advancing to the championship game in 2004 and reaching the semifinals on nine occasions (the last in 2021). Against teams in the field, the Owls are 4-2 in CCC Tournament play vs. Corban, 1-0 vs. LC State, 1-1 vs. Eastern Oregon, 1-1 vs. Northwest, 1-3 vs. C of I and 0-7 vs. Southern Oregon.
WHALEN CONTINUES DIGS STREAK: Kaley Whalen had another great weekend in the Willamette Valley, recording 22 digs in the 3-set loss at Bushnell and 20 digs in the 4-set loss at Corban. The sophomore became the first OIT player in the rally-scoring era to post 4-straight matches with 20-or-more digs - pushing her season total to 520 - the fifth player in program history with 500-or-more digs in a season.
RECORD BOOK: Five OIT players currently rank among the Top-25 in the all-time career record book – as
Kate Hicks leads the group, ranking No. 7 in total blocks (257).
Brooke Cassidy is No. 11 in aces (90), 13 in assists (874) and No. 24 in sets played (322),
Paige Tevelde is No. 11 in assists (1,115), with
Molly Grace No. 13 in kills (657) and
Kaley Whalen No. 17 in digs (695). Three players have cracked the single-season Top-25 – Whalen ranks No. 7 in digs (478), Hicks is No. 8 in blocks (103) and Grace is No. 12 in kills (320).
