HONOLULU, Hawaii – After a slow start, Oregon Tech played toe-to-toe with No. 12 ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan, but the Lady Owls dropped their season opener to the Eagles, 25-13, 25-21, 25-22, in the opening game of the Paradise Volleyball Classic.
Playing their first-ever opponent from Oklahoma, Tech (0-1) allowed the 2025 NAIA tourney team to hit .448 in an opening set loss.
Once they settled in, the Owls battled the Eagles (1-0) throughout.
Set 2 had 10 ties and six lead changes, including a 4-0 run by Tech – as kills from
Kaliko Schilling and
Aleksen Thayer, coupled with a
Lucy Boyd ace, gave the squad a 10-8 lead.
OWU answered by scoring 15 of the next 19 points, forcing eight OIT errors, to regain the lead and extend to 23-14. The Owls made it interesting, as a big block from Thayer and
Laci Hoylman, along with a
Kaley Whalen ace, got Tech within 24-21, before a Maria Santa Cruz kill ended the set.
The Lady Owls and Eagles see-sawed in Set 3, as OWU scored the first five points, but OIT stormed back, tying the score at 12-12 on an
Larrynn-Alexis Joseph-Rodrigues kill. The Owls would take the lead at 22-21 after kills from Hoylman and Schilling, but the Oklahoma school posted three straight kills, followed by an OIT hitting error to end the match.
Tiffany Goss led the Owls with 6 kills, with Thayer recording five kills and five blocks, Schilling debuting with five kills and eight digs, with Hoylman adding five kills and three blocks and Alexa Gugilotta posting five kills. Boyd had 15 assists and seven digs, with
Kaley Whalen returning to the lineup, finishing with 14 digs.
Santa Cruz, Maia Rubio and Julia Klimowics each had seven kills for OWU, with Klimowics recording five blocks.
The Lady Owls return to play tomorrow with games vs. Embry-Riddle and Dakota State.
