Evergreen Unable to Hold Off Corban Rally
OLYMPIA – Evergreen saw its drive for a spot in the Cascade Collegiate Conference postseason tournament come to an end on Friday night as the visiting Corban Warriors battled from a two-set deficit to take a 23-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-12 win in CRC Gymnasium.
With the defeat, the Geoducks are now 4-12 in the conference standings and 14-16 overall, while Corban improves to 3-13 in the CCC and 7-16 for the season.
The Geoducks came into the match knowing that they would need to win their final three matches, all of them at home, and also see some of the teams ahead of them lose. The Warriors had other plans, rallying from behind to pick up the victory.
There was only one tie and no lead changes as Evergreen won the opening set, that despite Corban finishing with a better attack percentage. The Warriors hit .263 in the set, led by Miah Smith with five kills, while the Geoducks came in at .118, led by Ivy Eakes with six kills. With the score tied 1-1 a Corban service error led to a 4-0 Evergreen run, and the Geoducks led by as many as six points at 15-9. The visitors rallied to within 24-23 before Eakes finished the set with a kill.
Evergreen was much more efficient on offense in the second set and again it was Eakes leading the way. The junior outside hitter from Anchorage, Alaska, had five more kills with no errors in 10 attempts. Nicole Pittelkau added five kills and Brandee Victorino had four kills with no errors in seven swings. Corban had another strong offensive performance, finishing with a .268 percentage, including four kills in six attempts by Sloane Morrison. Her kill pulled the Warriors to within 22-20 before kills by Eakes, Pittelkau and Victorino ended the set.
After that both teams’ attack percentages dropped off. The third set featured 14 ties and six lead changes, and there were 12 ties and five lead changes in the fourth set as Evergreen and Corban battled for each point.
Morrison kept it going at the net for Corban with five kills and a block assist in the third set, while Victorino had five kills and just one error in seven swings for the Geoducks. An Evergreen attack error put Corban ahead for good at 20-19 in the third set, which eventually ended on another Evergreen error.
In the fourth set, Eakes returned to her strong attack form with five kills, while Claire Bailey led Corban with three kills. The last of the 12 ties occurred at 22-22 when Natimia Barker-Doss recorded a service ace for Evergreen following a Molly King kill. The Warriors, who had four team blocks in the set, finished it on a Bethany Filipenko kill and two consecutive errors by the Geoducks.
Corban took a 4-1 lead in the deciding set, only to see the Geoducks rally to score six of the next seven points, including a pair of service aces by Eakes. Now trailing 7-5, Corban scored the next six points, including kills by Morrison, Shantelle Hill and an ace by Kasey Calderon.
Evergreen later got within two points, 13-11, on a service ace by Victorino, but the Warriors eventually closed out the set and match on a kill by Hill. Evergreen had its best blocking set of the match with four but couldn’t translate those into enough points.
Eakes was outstanding for the Geoducks with 19 kills and a .265 attack percentage, while Victorino finished with 11 kills, four block solos and two block assists. Barker-Doss had 21 digs and Jaclyn Trinque 47 assists for Evergreen. The Geoducks hit .152 as a team and had nine team blocks.
Morrison and Smith finished with 15 and 13 kills, respectively, for the Warriors, who also got 45 assists and 15 digs from Haley Meili. Katherine Salness led all players with 23 digs. Corban hit .176 in the match and had seven team blocks.
Evergreen returns to conference action at 3 p.m. Saturday when it hosts Northwest Christian.