Northwest Sweeps by Evergreen
KIRKLAND, Wash. – Northwest University registered their 12th win of the season with a 3-0 sweep of Evergreen tonight in Cascade Conference play in three tightly contested sets (25-18, 25-18, 26-24). NU also improves to 6-4 in league play.
In set one, Northwest would lead early, 12-8, and would manage to maintain their lead the entire set. Alivia Johnson’s service ace and Sarah Stoker’s kill would increase the NU lead to 17-12, but a kill by Evergreen’s Brittany Covert and an error by the Eagles would pull ESC to within three, 18-15. Northwest would pull ahead 20-15 on a kill by Stoker and miscue by Evergreen, but two errors by NU would close it to 20-17. NU would go on to close out the set on kills by Alivia Johnson and Olivia VanDlac.
The second set would see Evergreen and Northwest battle early to five ties. With the set tied at 11-11, NU would go on a 5-2 run at that point to pull ahead, 16-12, capped off by a VanDlac and Arika Zwack kill. K.C. Beadle’s kill would close the gap to 18-15, but NU would out score the Geoducks 7-3 to win the set.
Evergreen would refuse to go away without another battle and the third set would see them lead the majority of the way. Evergreen’s Cassidy Watkins’ kill would put ESC up 16-12. Evergreen looked as though they were sending the match into a fourth set as they led 23-21 after another Beadle kill. But Northwest would battle back to finally tie the set at 23-all on a kill by Rae Ann Hastings and an error by Evergreen. The Geoducks would retake the lead at 24-23, but three straight Hastings’ kills would give the Eagles a come from behind victory and the match.
Olivia VanDlac led Northwest U. (12-7, 6-4 CCC) with 10 kills and 12 digs for the double-double. Rae Ann Hastings and Sarah Stoker each had 7 kills while Ashton Arbuthnot had a match high 28 assists. Senior Heather Shulke increased her career digs mark to 1,424 with a match high 21 tonight.
Evergreen (0-19, 0-10 CCC) was led by Cassidy Watkins’ 10 kills and 11 digs. Teammate Sasha Nash led the Geoducks with 24 assists and Sonja Arrasi-Nash had a team high 12 digs.
Said Steven Bain, NU head coach following the match, "I liked the effort of our players tonight. They played hard but we are still looking for a decision making formula that will allow us to be good from start to finish. It's a challenging process though we will get there eventually."
Tonight's game is the only game of the weekend for both teams.