Knights Repay Geoducks in Five-Set Thriller
Turnabout was fair play on Friday night in CRC Gymnasium as Warner Pacific kept its Cascade Conference volleyball postseason tournament hopes alive with a five-set victory over The Evergreen State College.
As the Geoducks had done in defeating Warner Pacific in five sets on Sept. 5 in Portland, the Knights (11-13 overall, 8-11 CCC) rallied from a 2-1 set deficit this evening to defeat the host Geoducks (4-20, 4-15), 21-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-21, 15-12.
Not only did the Knights come back to win the final two sets, they rallied from a 9-6 deficit in the deciding fifth set to pick up the victory.
After falling behind 3-2 early in the fifth, the Geoducks scored seven of the next 10 points, including three kills by Natalie Taylor, to take a 9-6 advantage. The Knights responded with three straight points, and after Evergreen momentarily regained the advantage on a Kelsey Delagrange kill, they tallied five of the next six points to grab a 14-11 lead. Nicole Kincaid had back-to-back kills to highlight the run for the Knights, who eventually closed out the set and the match on an Evergreen attack error.
With freshmen Kaela Carnes and Taylor leading the way, the Geoducks hit .242 to take the win in the first set. Carnes, a middle blocker, had five kills and one error in eight attacks while Taylor put down six of her nine attempts without an error. Two of Taylor's kills accounted for Evergreen's final two points.
Kincaid and Nicole Lisoski were instrumental in Warner Pacific's second set victory as both players finished with three kills on four attempts. There were three ties and three lead changes, but all of that came early as the Knights gained control after breaking a 4-4 tie on a Janessa White kill. They never again trailed, building a six-point lead on several occasions before Brandy Velasquez recorded a service ace to end it.
The third set was the closest of the match with nine ties and four lead changes. The Geoducks raced out to a 10-6 advantage, the 10th point coming when Carnes and Kylie Kytan combined for a block on a Grace Rivers attack, the Geoducks. Warner Pacific responded with six straight points, and from there the match went back and forth with neither team leading by more than two points until the visitors went on top 22-19.
Still trailing 23-21, the Geoducks closed out the set by scoring the final four points on two kills by Taylor, a Warner Pacific attack error and a set-ending combo block by Kytan and Matisse Davis. Taylor added five more kills, giving her 15 through the first three sets, while White collected five of her own for the Knights.
The fourth set went in Warner Pacific's direction in the early going as it built a 10-3 lead on the strength of three kills by White. With the Knights on top 16-8 and cruising, the Geoducks ran off eight unanswered points. Kytan and Davis teamed up on a block to help kick start the rally, and Taylor finished the surge with four kills. With the score knotted at 17-all, the visitors finally broke away and evened the set tally at 2-2. That led to the fireworks in the fifth set.
Taylor had a stellar performance for the Geoducks with 27 kills and a .274 attack percentage. Those 27 kills are the second most she has recorded in a single match this season. Kytan recorded 42 assists, five block assists and two service aces, while Cheyenne Baird and Brooke Huffman both finished with 18 digs. Davis ended the match with one solo block and three block assists.
Kincaide and White both had 14 kills for Warner Pacific, followed by Lisoski with 10. Kealia Rosa led all players with 46 assists, as did Velasquez with 19 digs.
Evergreen concludes its 2015 season on Saturday when it hosts Multnomah at 5 p.m.