SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Cornerstone's NAIA National Tournament lives came to an end on Friday morning after a hard fought 3-0 loss to the top seeded Eastern Oregon Mounties. The loss snaps a program record 34 game win streak and ends an incredible Golden Eagle season with a record of 34-4. CU fell 21-25, 17-25, 20-25 in the loss as EOU will now advance to the NAIA National Tournament Quarterfinals as the winner of pool A. CU will now graduate four outstanding seniors and hit the offseason to prepare for the 2023 year. 

Game Recap: Cornerstone – 0 Eastern Oregon – 3 (21-25, 17-25, 20-25)
 
Set One:

• Cornerstone came out swinging high and swinging hard, earning the first two points on kills from Rylie Walters and Kaylee Dykema. 
• Eastern Oregon responded right away with four straight points to take the lead 4-2. 
• From there, Cornerstone would never regain the lead. CU fell behind by as many as six on a bad set to trail 20-14. 
• Kaylee Dykema and Kathryn Detweiler combined for a big block to cap a 3-0 response to make it 21-18. 
• Back-to-back errors by the Golden Eagles trailing 23-21 ended set one in favor of EOU, 25-21.

 
Set Two:

• Eastern Oregon came out on fire in set two, starting things off with a 7-2 run that ended on a Kara Clayton kill, forcing an early CU timeout. 
• Trailing 12-4, Cornerstone would win one of the longest rallies of the match. Olivia Keelean finally put the ball away after some great Golden Eagle defense to bring the score to 12-5. 
• Cornerstone could not put a run together however, as the tough Eastern Oregon team continued to have outstanding offense forcing the second CU timeout at 16-7. 
• A kill from Madison Morgan put the Mountie's up double-figures for the first time in the match, 18-8. 
• A pair of Patsy Morris service aces would cut the Golden Eagle deficit to seven, followed by a roll shot kill from Rylie Walters to make it six. 
• It was too-little-too-late as an EOU block ended set two 25-17. 

 
Set Three:

• Fighting for their NAIA National Tournament lives, Cornerstone started set three with a 4-0 run. Rylie Walters and Kaylee Dykema each recorded a kill while the two capped off the run with a big block. 
• EOU would score six of the next seven points off great passing that forced CU errors to go on top 7-6. 
• Cornerstone was forced into their first timeout after a Mountie 4-0 run put them on top 13-8. 
• Out of the timeout Kylie Barron would record a kill, but Eastern Oregon would limit runs taking a 19-12 advantage before Head Coach Megan Lenhart used her final timeout. 
• The Golden Eagles continued to fight all the way to the end as Olivia Keelean recorded a big kill to spark a 5-0 Cornerstone run that would cut the deficit back to four, 20-17. Eastern Oregon would use their first timeout. 
• After the timeout, a CU service error would give side out to the Mounties. 
• Cornerstone would not be able to cut the deficit any closer than three, falling 25-20 to lose in straight sets.  

By the Numbers:
34 – Cornerstone's program record winning streak comes to an end at 34 in a row. 
4 – All four Golden Eagle losses this year came to teams that qualified for the NAIA National Tournament. 
10 – Rylie Walters led the team with 10 kills. 
 
What's Next?
The Golden Eagles outstanding run has come to an end, finishing second in Pool A of the NAIA National Tournament. CU will now hit the offseason and begin preparations for the 2023 year next Fall.
 
Volleyball Contact: Jesse Campbell 
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