HONOLULU, Hawaii – Oregon Tech closed out play at the Paradise Volleyball Classic, splitting a pair of games prior to the arrival of Hurricane Lala to the islands.
OIT (1-2) earned a 4-set win over Embry-Riddle (25-21, 25-23, 17-25, 25-18) in their morning match, before stunning unbeaten Dakota State with a Set 1 win before falling 24-26, 25-14, 25-18, 25-14.
MATCH 1 – The Lady Owls got a huge performance from
Kaliko Schilling to claim the 4-set victory over ERAU (0-3). The transfer had a match-high 15 kills, including seven kills in the opening set win.
OIT used a 6-0 run in Set 2, helped by a Schilling kill and stuff block, building a 14-8 lead. The Eagles answered behind Brooke Eglinton, recording two kills and two blocks in a 10-3 run that gave the Arizona squad an 18-17. ERAU extended the lead to 22-20, before a Schilling kill started a 4-point run by the Lady Owls, with an
Aleksen Thayer kill ending the set.
The Eagles controlled most of Set 3, taking an 11-4 lead early and after Tech cut the gap to 17-15, got four late kills from Anela Chew to force another frame.
Emma Kness came up big in Set 4 for the Owls, recording three aces in a 6-1 run, helping OIT take a 15-8 lead – a margin they would not surrender.
Larrynn-Alexis Joseph-Rodrigues had eight kills, Tiffany Goss and Thayer each had seven kills, with
Alexa Gugliotta ending the match with six kills and six blocks. Taryn Ramsey posted 25 assists and seven digs, with Kness finishing with four aces and 11 digs.
Chew had 13 kills and Eglinton added 11 in the loss for ERAU.
MATCH 2 – Facing a Trojans (3-0) team that had swept both Oklahoma Wesleyan and Embry-Riddle, the Owls struck first in the opening set. A
Laci Hoylman kill broke a 21-21 tie, with a Ramsay ace and a DSU hitting error giving Tech set point. The South Dakota team battled to tie the score at 24-24, but a service error and a Schilling kill gave OIT the win.
In Set 2, the Trojans got three early kills from Kaedyn Sapp, taking an 11-4 advantage. The Owls would use defense for offense, as two Gugliotta-Goss blocks keyed a 6-1 run to pull Tech within 12-10. Unfortunately, DSU cranked up the defensive pressure, forcing eight OIT hitting errors in a 13-4 run to end the period.
The Owls battled in Set 3, as
Alison Miller posted consecutive aces in a 4-0 run that cut a DSU lead to 19-17, but Emily Nelson and Kaylee Evenson each had a pair of kills in a 5-0 run that put the set away.
Set 4 was all Trojans, jumping to a 4-0 lead and never trailed, using five aces in the period to close out the match.
Schilling led OIT with nine kills, Thayer had five kills and four blocks, Ramsay recorded 19 assists and
Kaley Whalen had 14 digs. Sapp had 12 kills and Nelson recorded 10 kills for DSU.
Tech will hopefully return home tomorrow as forecasts have the hurricane moving south of Oahu, with the Owls set to compete next weekend at the Hope International SummerSlam in Fullerton, Calif.
NOTE – It was a homecoming for four OIT players from Hawaii – Schilling, Joseph-Rodrigues,
Leilani Kench and
Ka'ala Masaoka.
