Evergreen's Kelsey Delagrange led all players with 17 digs.
No. 9-Ranked Raiders Sweep Fiesty Geoducks
Southern Oregon remained unbeaten this season with a 25-20, 25-16, 25-19 Cascade Collegiate Conference volleyball victory over The Evergreen State College on Friday night at Costantino Recreation Center.
The Raiders, ranked No. 9 in this week’s NAIA Top 25 national poll, improved their overall record to 10-0 and their conference mark to 3-0 with their eighth straight-set victory this season. The Geoducks, who put up a spirited fight throughout the match, lost for the first time in three conference matches and are now 2-6 for the season.
Evergreen outside hitters Jorden Porter and Natalie Taylor both finished with eight kills for the Geoducks, while Kylie Kytan had 23 assists and Kelsey Delagrange 17 digs. Kytan and Kaela Carnes both finished the match with four block assists as the Geoducks had their best blocking match of the season with seven team blocks.
Emma Gasman finished with 11 kills and an impressive .562 attack percentage, while Laura Morse added 10 kills for the Raiders. Lauren McGowne, ranked second in the NAIA with an average of 11.6 assists per set, surpassed that total tonight with 42 assists in the three sets. Southern Oregon finished with six team blocks, led by Courtney Macklin with four block assists.
Southern Oregon hit .263 as a team compared to a .111 mark for Evergreen.
The teams battled on even terms through a highly contested first set. Southern Oregon took a 13-10 lead on a service ace by Gasman, only to see the Geoducks go on a 7-2 run to take their largest lead of the set at 17-15. The run was capped when Carnes and Kytan combined to stuff a Corynn Kopra attack at the net.
After that, however, the Raiders showed their quality by closing with 10 of the final 13 points, including a pair of four-point runs.
Southern Oregon took that late momentum into the second set, building a quick lead and adding to it. McGowne’s service ace put her team on top 12-6, forcing an Evergreen timeout, and the Raiders maintained a lead of at least four points the rest of the way. A stuff block by Macklin and Corynn Kopra ended the set.
In the final set, Southern Oregon raced out to a 15-6 lead before the Geoducks rallied to within three points at 19-16 on a kill by Matisse Davis, but that was as close as it got.
Evergreen returns to conference play at 5 p.m. Saturday when it hosts the Oregon Tech Owls, who this evening lost a three-set match at Northwest University.