Senior Day a Success as Geoducks Beat Wolves
The Evergreen State College seniors Kylie Kytan and Jorden Porter had strong performances in their final home match at Costantino Recreation Center to lead the Geoducks to a 25-12, 16-25, 25-16, 25-15 Cascade Collegiate Conference volleyball win over the visiting Walla Walla Wolves on Sunday afternoon.
Kytan, a setter from Puyallup, finished with 40 assists and two service aces and Porter, a middle hitter from Belgrade, Mont., recorded 12 kills and a .345 attack percentage as the Geoducks (5-20 overall, 4-14 CCC) beat the Wolves (1-21, 0-18) in four sets for the second time this season.
Natalie Taylor recorded five kills on eight swings and Chloee Hunt added three on six attempts, both with no errors, to spark the offense. Hunt also had a pair of block assists and Renita Gray a solo block to lead Evergreen's defensive effort. The only tie in the set came at 1-1, but Evergreen soon pulled away by running off nine consecutive points to take a 22-8 lead at one point. Kytan served eight of those points.
Walla Walla had hit -.226 in the first set but turned things around in a major way by hitting .452 to win the second set. Lauren Barlow had five kills with no errors in nine attempts, Emily Darling added five kills and one error on six swings, and Melissa Barton was perfect on her three attack attempts.
There were two ties and a lead change in the third set, the second of those ties coming at 13-13 after Walla Walla rallied from an 11-7 deficit. The Geoducks gained the momentum back by ripping off four straight points, including a pair of kills by Hunt, to grab the lead for good. The Geoducks were tough at the net with four team blocks, including two block assists each by Bethanie Nelson, Kytan, Hunt and Gray and a solo by Taylor. Lexi Barkley led the back row with seven digs.
The Geoducks hit .457 in the final set, grabbing the lead from the outset and finishing off the match. Hunt was on fire in that set with seven kills and no errors on 10 swings, while Taylor added six kills and no errors on 11 attempts. Both Taylor and Megan Breckenridge had six digs in the set.
In addition to the performances by Kytan and Porter, Hunt led the Geoducks with 15 kills and a .467 attack percentage, while Taylor added 13 kills and a .231 success rate. Renita Gray had three of the team's seven service aces, Breckenridge and Taylor tied for team honors with 16 digs, and Hunt helped the Geoducks to 10 team blocks with six block assists.
Walla Walla got nine kills each from Lauren Barlow and Melissa Barton, and Barlow tied teammate Carly Ursino for game-high dig honors with 19 apiece.
The Geoducks close out their 2016 schedule next weekend with matches at Multnomah on Friday and Warner Pacific on Saturday, both in Portland, Ore.