COMING UP: vs. No. 25 Bushnell, Friday, 6 p.m.; vs. No. 6 Corban, Saturday, 4 p.m.
 
GAME DAY INFORMATION: Both matches this week will feature Live Stats through OIT's SIDEARM Stats Portal and a live stream on the Cascade Sports Network with Mike Safford on the call. Links to both stats and video can be accessed at OregonTechOwls.com. On Saturday, all fans sitting in the reserved (blue seat backs) section will be asked to vacate the seating area immediately after the match to accommodate fans for the Lithia Classic basketball tournament.
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ABOUT THE OPPONENT – BUSHNELL (17-8, 12-6) | 43RD MEETING - SERIES TIED, 21-21 | LAST MEETING IN 2026 (BU 3, OIT 1): Tech opens up Senior Weekend against Bushnell, as the Beacons are coming off a big win over LC State – climbing back into the Top-25 poll at No. 25. The Eugene side has a potent offensive attack averaging 12.2 kills per set and hitting at a solid .216 percentage – anchored by All-CCC outside Amyah Semau (2.89 k/s, 2.37 d/s) and Taya Blankenship (2.50 k/s, 1.43 d/s), along with blockers Soleil Sands (1.72 k/s, 1.23 b/s) and Carly Hanna (1.23 k/s, 0.86 b/s). Emma Fa'alago (4.92 a/s, 2.30 d/s, 42 aces) is the top setter, with Chloe Farr (3.65 d/s) ranking among the CCC's top-five in digs. BU won a tight four-set match with the Owls last month in the Valley.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENT – CORBAN (21-6, 14-4) | 64TH MEETING - CRB LEADS SERIES, 37-26 | LAST MEETING IN 2026 (CRB 3, OIT 2): The regular-season closes with a Saturday date against No. 6-ranked Corban, as the Lady Owls look to snap a 13-match losing streak to the Warriors – with Tech taking the Salem school to five sets in the first meeting this season. Corban comes into the weekend winning 11 of 12, taking to an attack averaging 12.3 kills per set and 2.5 blocks per set. All-America 6-rotation player Emma Bischoff (3.46 k/s, 2.63 d/s, 52 aces) is the key to the offense, alongside Greta VanGemert (2.52 k/s, 1.18 d/s), Lauryn Copeland (2.00 k/s, 0.95 b/s) and Kendra Bittle (1.99 k/s, 1.91 d/s, 46 aces). All-CCC setter Nadeiah Howard (5.54 a/s, 1.74 d/s) orchestrates the offense, with Dani Street (4.25 d/s) serving as libero.
 
TECH CLINCHES PLAYOFF SPOT: A 3-set sweep of Northwest clinched the Lady Owls a spot in the 8-team Cascade Conference Championships, presented by U.S. Bank – with OIT guaranteed the No. 7 seed. After grinding out a 28-26 win in Set 1, the Owls cruised to complete the sweep, using a 46-32 edge in kills. Saturday, Tech dominated Evergreen in three sets – limiting the Geoducks to six points in Set 1 and nine points in Set 2 – with the six-point set a new OIT defensive record in a CCC match-up.
 
HISTORY IN THE POSTSEASON: The Lady Owls have clinched their fifth postseason berth in the last seven seasons and their 18th all-time trip to the CCC Championships. OIT is a combined 10-21 in the CCC event, reaching the title match in 2004, while advancing to the semifinals on nine occasions, the last in 2021. Tech has advanced to two NAIA National Tournaments, winning an Opening Round match in 2021 vs. Westmont, before going 0-2 in Sioux City, Iowa, at the tournament final site, while in 2024, Tech dropped a 4-set match at Montana Western in the Opening Round.
 
WHALEN SETS OIT ALL-TIME RECORD: With her seventh dig in Friday's win at Northwest, Kaley Whalen broke OIT's career digs record, extending the mark to 1,863 digs by the end of the weekend. The senior broke the previous mark of 1,839, set by Krystie Vea from 2007-11, recording 19 digs against NU and added 11 more at Evergreen.  Whalen, who leads the CCC in digs per set on the season (4.94), currently ranks No. 7 in CCC history – needing 12 digs to move into the No. 6 spot all-time.
 
THAYER HAS NEAR PERFECT OFFENSIVE WEEKEND: Middle Aleksen Thayer was instrumental on both offense and defense in the two weekend wins. On the attack, the senior had just one attack error in the two matches combined – posting 10 kills at Northwest and 10 kills without an error at Evergreen, ending the weekend with a .559 attack percentage. Defensively, Thayer had nine blocks – ranking No. 1 in the CCC and No. 2 nationally with a 1.47 blocks per set average, moving 22 blocks away from 500 for her career, while moving into the No. 8 spot on the CCC all-time blocks list.
 
GOSS KEY TO TECH ATTACK: Tech got a big boost in Washington from opposite hitter Tiffini Goss, who combined for 19 kills and just four attack errors in the two victories. The sophomore had 10 kills in Friday's key win at Northwest and followed with nine kills at Evergreen – hitting at a combined .371 percentage. Goss ranks second on the team, averaging 2.40 kills per set and has upped her attack percentage to .179.
 
SENIOR NIGHT SET FOR FRIDAY: The Lady Owls will honor their four current senior student-athletes (though with the new NAIA fifth-year policy, three of them could potentially return in 2027) following Friday's match with Buhsnell. Fifth-year senior Kaley Whalen and fourth-year seniors Aleksen Thayer, Sumerlyn Spencer and Brooklynn Thesenvitz will be honored.
 
AROUND THE CCC: The last weekend of league play will determine a champion and host for the CCC Championships, which team will earn the final bye into the tournament, and which two teams will host a first-round match-up. College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon are deadlocked atop the standings – with both teams headed to Walla Walla and Lewis-Clark State to end the year. A C of I sweep would clinch the Yotes the title, as they hold the tiebreak on EOU. LC, Southern Oregon and Bushnell are deadlocked at No. 4-6 – the No. 4 seed earning a bye into the quarterfinals, with the others hosting a first-round game. Bushnell holds the head-to-head tie-break on LC and swept the first meeting with SOU, while LC and SOU are in a stalemate in the tiebreak heading into the final weekend. The other matchups in the league feature the non-playoff teams, as Evergreen and Northwest travel to Warner Pacific.
 
STANDINGS: Eastern Oregon 16-2, 27-2; College of Idaho 16-2, 23-2; Corban 14-4, 21-6; Lewis-Clark State 12-6, 18-6; Southern Oregon 12-6, 20-8; Bushnell 12-6, 17-8; Oregon Tech 8-10, 14-12; Walla Walla 5-13, 5-15; Northwest 3-15, 7-20; Evergreen State 1-17, 2-20; Warner Pacific 0-18, 0-19.
 
LEAGUE LEADERS: Kills/Set – Sahara Browning (WWU) 4.25, Keira Vaughn (EOU) 3.92, Emma Bischoff (CRB) 3.45, Taylor Boyce (LC) 3.35, Amyah Semau (BU) 2.89. Assists/Set – Shayne McWilliams (CI) 9.19, Taryn Ramsay (OIT) 8.31, Katelyn Bogetti (NU) 8.12, Kate Stidham (EOU) 7.26, Teagan Scott (LC) 6.36. Digs/Set – Kaley Whalen (OIT) 4.94, Dani Street (CRB) 4.25, Ella Stosich (LC) 3.77, Avery Lewis (CI) 3.76, Chloe Farr (BU) 3.65. Blocks/Set – Aleksen Thayer (OIT) 1.47, Eliana Klos (CRB) 1.38, Soleil Sands (BU) 1.23, Julie Whitley (EOU) 1.19, Alexa Wheeler (CI) 1.11.
 
RECORD BOOK: Seven current Lady Owls rank among the Top-25 in the OIT career record book. Aleksen Thayer holds the all-time blocks (478) mark and recently cracked the Top-25 at No. 24 in kills (568), with Kaley Whalen No. 1 in digs (1,863), No. 10 in aces (96) and No. 18 in assists (272). Lucy Boyd is No. 6 in assists (1,670) and No. 19 in aces (75), Taryn Ramsay is No. 15 in assists (896), Sumerlyn Spencer is No. 18 in aces (76), Alison Miller is No. 25 in aces (70), with Alexa Gugliotta No. 25 in blocks (143). Thayer also sits at No. 4 on the single-season blocks list with 140 on the year.
 
NEXT WEEK: The Lady Owls will open the postseason on Tuesday in the No. 6 vs. No. 7 seed match-up in the CCC Championships, presented by U.S. Bank – traveling to Southern Oregon, Lewis-Clark State or Bushnell. The winner will advance to the final site of the tournament, with play set to begin on Friday.