EUGENE, Ore. – Playing Bushnell University for the second time in five days, Oregon Tech battled the Beacons in the tightest match of the 2023 season – but it wasn't enough for the Lady Owls in a 27-25, 31-29, 25-23 loss in the first-round of the Cascade Conference Championships, presented by U.S. Bank, inside Morse Event Center.
 
The two teams combined for 46 ties and 20 lead changes – adding 111 kills and 124 digs – in just three sets.
 
Savanna Sterck had 15 kills and Molly Grace added 10 kills and 10 digs for Tech (12-18), who saw their season come to a close.
 
The Beacons (16-11) got a match-high 19 kills from Leah Agost – earning a trip to the CCC quarterfinals and a date with Southern Oregon on Friday.
 
Neither team had a lead more than two points in Set 1 – with the two sides combining for 17 ties. A kill from Kate Hicks and a BU attack error gave OIT the first of two set points, but the Beacons turned to Matty Ladd, who powered down three-straight kills to end the set.
 
Set 2 was a marathon, as BU fought off four set points and OIT withstood a pair – before Agost broke a 29-29 tie with a kill and Celia Hubbard spiked home an overpass to give the Beacons a 2-set lead.
 
OIT posted their biggest lead of the night in Set 3 at 18-14 on an Aleksen Thayer kill and led 19-16 before Agost took over, recording four kills in a 6-1 run to give the Beacons a 22-20 lead. Back-to-back hitting errors pulled the Lady Owls even, but a Hubbard kill and a Peyton Ritchie ace gave the hosts match point, which Halle Neumann converted from the left side.
 
Paige Tevelde tied a career-high with seven kills, adding 28 assists for the Owls, with Thayer recording five kills and six blocks. Kaley Whalen led Tech with 24 digs, becoming the first player in program history to record 5-straight matches with 20-or-more digs.
 
Hubbard had 11 kills and Ladd added nine more in the win for BU, with libero Bella Parque posting 29 digs.