Chloee Hunt and Natalie Taylor
Saint Martin's Rallies Past Evergreen
OLYMPIA – Visiting Saint Martin's dropped a close first set before sweeping three in a row to beat The Evergreen State College, 23-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-12, in a non-conference volleyball match played Tuesday night in Costantino Recreation Center.
The Saints (7-6) hit .270 for the match, including an incredible .486 in the third set, to rally for the win. The Geoducks (4-15) started out strong with a .270 percentage in the first set but had negative attack percentages in the second and fourth sets. The Geoducks hit .098 as a team for the match.
Chloee Hunt led Evergreen with 18 kills, followed by Natalie Taylor with nine and Bethanie Nelson with seven. Hunt had six kills on 15 attempts and Nelson had four kills in six swings to lead the Geoducks to the first set victory. Lexi Barkley paced Evergreen with 17 digs and Megan Breckenridge added 12, and Kylie Kytan had 29 assists in a losing cause.
Rachel Gondrezick was nearly unstoppable for the Saints on the outside, finishing with 22 kills and a .378 attack percentage. She had seven kills in the first set and added six of her kills with no errors on 10 swings in the third set. Megan Vernoy, hitting from the right side, finished with 14 kills while hitting .303, and Rebecca Mitchell added 11 kills while finishing with a .321 percentage.
Other standouts for the Saints included Nicolette Nesbitt with 45 assists and 15 digs, and Jennifer Codd and Cassidy Apo with 15 digs apiece. Saint Martin's finished with seven team blocks, including four block assists by Ililani Kamaka.
Evergreen returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday when it takes on nationally ranked and Cascade Collegiate Conference leader Eastern Oregon in La Grande.