Cavs Rally for Second Straight Sweep
BOX SCORE - Concordia vs. Evergreen State
PORTLAND, Ore.—Needing comebacks in both the second and the third set, Concordia swept Evergreen State 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-22) in CCC volleyball action on Saturday night.
With its second straight sweep, Concordia (9-7, 6-3 CCC) moved into a tie for third place in the CCC standings with Eastern Oregon (12-5, 6-3 CCC). Evergreen fell to 0-18 on the season and 0-9 in league play.
Holding the Geoducks to a -.061 hitting percentage, the Cavaliers marched to a 10-1 lead in the opener before taking the set with a 25-12 score. The Cavs notched just 10 kills but were buoyed by nine attacking errors from eth visitors to claim the set.
The next two sets, however, proved to be much more difficult as the Geoducks held late leads at 22-21 in the second set and 17-16 in the third.
Evergreen doubled up the Cavaliers in the second with a 12-6 advantage following an ace by Makeo Dela Cuadra. Concordia chipped away at the deficit and pulled even at 17-17 on a strike by Jackie Stein. A service error on the next play gave the lead back to Evergreen where the Geoducks would once again add to its advantage with a kill by Stephanie Peshlakai.
Down 20-17, three errors by Evergreen and a kill from CU’s Melanie Miller squared the set at 22-all. Another attack error gave CU its first lead since the scoreboard showed 2-1 while back-to-back aces by Miller closed out the comeback.
Evergreen opened the third set with four straight points, two of which came off of successful swings by Cassidy Watkins. The Cavs stormed back with five straight points for a lead of their own. After only five ties through the first two sets, the finale provided more than its share of the dramatics as the two sides found the score knotted on 11 occasions.
Evergreen’s K.C. Beadle struck for a kill at 20-20 for the final tie of the evening. A pair of errors created a two-point gap for the Cavs before kills by Stein, Miller and Shantel Gritsch closed he opportunity for another set.
Evergreen’s Watkins posted a match-high with 10 kills while CU’s Miller and Stein each recorded eight. Lindsay Mangan, the CCC leader in assists, tallied 28 for a match high and EGSC’s Sonja Arrasi-Nash hauled in 18 digs.
Overall, the Geoducks finished with 55 digs to 47 for the Cavs. Concordia outhit its opponents .138 to .037.
Concordia returns to action on Oct. 5 when it travels to face Southern Oregon in Ashland. The following day, the Cavs will head to Klamath Falls in a road match against Oregon Tech. The Geoducks, meanwhile, will travel to face Northwest for its lone match of the week on Friday.