CALDWELL, Ida. – Keeping the theme of taking everything in stride this year, the Lions arrived at their long awaited first game of the season in Caldwell, Idaho and had to wait a few hours longer to play than originally planned. Nonetheless the team showed up and played their hearts out.

Before the last-minute schedule change that was made the morning of, the team was set to play two games against Eastern Oregon University with a break in between. After the shift, the games were set back-to-back at 3:00pm and 5:00pm.

Game 1
Eastern Oregon came into the match strong, gaining momentum early on. Their offense was unstoppable and the Lions took the loss in set one with a final score of 25-3.

Not letting the first set outcome get them down, the Lions gradually fell into their rhythm and finished the set well despite a slow start. The Mountaineers took the win again in set two, 25-12.

Set three saw the teams battling it out point for point to start, until the Mountaineers pulled away in the second half. The Lions improved their score yet again and finished with 14 to close out the match.

Kamaile Labanon led the team offensively with 5 kills, while libero Alyssa Mehalovich led defensively with 7 digs.

Game 2
Continuing to up their game, the Lions stepped up the level of competition despite the loss. The team started off the match with a 3-0 run, and traded leads a couple times before the Mountaineers pulled away at the end to win the set 25-19.

Playing their best set of the day, set two was one that showed Multnomah's tenacity and ability to adapt to their opponent. Eastern had an early lead, but the Lions went on a 5-point run to take a 2 point advantage. The teams went point-for-point and the Lions had the upper-hand with a score of 21-17. A couple unforced errors tied up the score at 21's, and the Mountaineers offense took over from there to win 25-21.

Finishing out the day the teams were again battling for each point until the middle of the set, when Eastern took the lead and did not look back until they finished it out with a score of 25-12.

Leading the team offensively in the second match was both Danae Stokes and Kamaile Labanon with 6 kills a piece, and Jocelynn Porter with 5. Rachel Bailey dished every assist for the team, tallying 24. Alyssa Mehalovich made it into double digits after tallying 11 digs.

The Lions did not mind that they were starting off their season against a team who made it to the sweet sixteen in the NAIA National Championship the year prior, they were simply excited to play and got better with every set.

Head Coach Colton Naill was nothing short of impressed with his team for showing up and playing their hearts out. "Super proud of this group – not easy to go against a team like Eastern to start the season. The girls were not intimidated, and didn't care about the scoreboard." He was encouraged by the teams ability to play with one of the best teams in the NAIA. "We're starting to find our rhythm, and Rachel Bailey deserves a lot of credit for stepping into the role she has. I don't think we are asking more of any other player than Rachel – our only setter on the roster and a freshman. We had a couple other players stepping up and playing positions they were not recruited to play. Overall had a great showing from all of our girls as they adapted and brought great energy."

The team starts their conference debut 0-2, and will face College of Idaho on February 20^th at 9:00am and 1:00pm (8:00am and 12:00pm PST) before making their way back to Portland to prepare for the next conference pod, taking place March 5^th and 6^th in Lewiston, Idaho.