Geoducks Rally to Defeat Saint Martin's
OLYMPIA – After dropping the first set to visiting Saint Martin's, The Evergreen State College dug deep and rallied for a 14-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-23 non-conference volleyball victory Wednesday night at CRC Gymnasium.
In turning the tables on the Saints, who swept them in three straight sets back on Sept. 24, the Geoducks improved their season record to 13-14. They moved to within one win of tying the program record for victories in a season held by the 2003 Evergreen team. Saint Martin's is now 4-19 after the defeat.
The Saints came out swinging in the first set with a .300 attack percentage while the Geoducks labored and hit -.067. Rebecca Mitchell had four kills and Kristyn Ross had three in four swings for the visitors. There was only one tie score in the set, that at 1-1, but once Maddie Knecht put down a kill to make it 2-1, the Saints were not stopped the rest of the way.
After that convincing first set, it looked like Saint Martin's would roll to another sweep. Evergreen, however, had a different idea, hitting .344 in the second set with Brandy Iverson recording five kills in 10 attempts. The Saints, meanwhile, hit .054 in the set. The set was tied at 2-2 when Iverson record the first of her kills in the set, and Evergreen cruised from there.
There were six ties and two lead changes in the third set, the final tie coming at 9-9. The Geoducks scored five of the next seven points to build a 14-11 lead, and later they led by as many as seven points at 22-15 on a kill by Brandee Victorino before settling for the four-point win.
The fourth set was the closest, Evergreen taking an early 3-0 lead, only to see the Saints score 10 of the next 14 points. Saint Martin's still led 19-16 following a kill by Ross when the Geoducks started a rally. Ivy Eakes put down a kill and Jaclyn Trinque and Victorino combined on a kill. After a Saints point, consecutive kills by Victorino tied the score at 20-20, and then the home team went ahead when Trinque and Victorino had another stuff block.
Saint Martin's trailed 24-22 and rallied to within a point on a kill by Rebecca Mitchell, but Iverson finished the match with her 11th kill to give the Geoducks the victory.
Victorino led all players with 12 kills and she finished with an outstanding .526 attack percentage, while Iverson's 11 kills came with a .360 attack percentage. Trinque had a great floor game with 38 assists, four kills, 12 digs and four block assists, and Natimia Barker-Doss was all over the back line with 25 digs. The Geoducks finished with nine team blocks, including five block assists by Victorino.
For Saint Martin's, Ross finished with 10 kills and 22 digs and Jessica Riddle had four service aces. Kyra Davidson had 10 block assists to lead the Saints to 12 team blocks.
Evergreen is back to Cascade Collegiate Conference action at 7 p.m. Friday when they play nationally ranked Southern Oregon in Ashland.