KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – On a Senior Night for the ages, Oregon Tech used a 9-1 run to open a winner-take-all fifth set, as the Lady Owls stunned No. 25-ranked Bushnell, 21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 18-25, 15-8 at Danny Miles Court.
Celebrating
Aleksen Thayer,
Kaley Whalen,
Sumerlyn Spencer and
Brooklynn Thesenvitz, the Lady Owls (15-12, 9-10 CCC) played their most complete match of the year, holding a 63-60 edge in kills, an 11.5-10 edge in blocks and a 6-1 edge in aces against the nationally-ranked foe.
After the Beacons (17-9, 12-7) forced a fifth set, Tech left no doubt. Two
Alison Miller aces, along with two kills and a block from Thayer raced the Lady Owls out to the big cushion. Bushnell battled back to 11-8 after a Tech hitting error, but
Shalyn Bliss hammered home a kill,
Kaliko Schilling delivered a stuff block, followed it with a kill and
Alexa Gugliotta ended the match with a winner – guaranteeing OIT a winning season.
Bushnell won Set 1 behind two key Carly Hanna blocks late in the period after OIT had pulled within 20-19, with Hanna adding a kill in Set 2 to give the visitors a 9-4 lead. The Owls answered, as
Emma Kness and
Lucy Boyd provided aces and Thayer a block, in a 10-4 run to give the hosts the lead – with Gugliotta posting back-to-back kills to extend a margin to 22-18 to secure the set win.
Bliss had two kills in a key 4-0 Set 3 run for the Owls, turning a 19-18 lead into a 23-18 advantage to take command of the match, but Taya Blankenship had four kills in Set 4 for the Beacons, who used a late 8-2 run to send the contest into a decisive set.
Tiffini Goss had a career-high 17 kills and six blocks for the Owls, with Bliss recording 13 kills and Gugliotta adding 10. Thayer had eight kills and a match-high eight blocks, Boyd finished with 34 assists and Whalen led all players with 17 digs.
Blankenship had 18 kills and 12 digs for Bushnell, with Amyah Semau recording 10 kills and 13 digs and Avery McAllister ending the night with 30 assists. The Beacons remain in a 3-way tie for fourth-place in the league standings heading into the final night of the regular-season.
OIT closes out the regular-season tomorrow afternoon, hosting No. 6-ranked Corban at 4 p.m.
