Evergreen's Natalie Taylor
Oregon Tech Takes Evergreen in Five Sets
OLYMPIA – Oregon Tech rallied from a 2-1 set deficit Friday night to defeat The Evergreen State College, 25-17, 29-31, 23-25, 25-21, 15-10, in a Cascade Collegiate Conference volleyball match played in Costantino Recreation Center.
In a battle between the two teams tied for eighth place in the conference, the visiting Owls (8-9 overall, 4-7 CCC) recorded 10 kills compared to just two for the Geoducks (4-13, 3-8) in the fifth-and-deciding set.
In that fifth set, the Geoducks scored four consecutive points, capped by a Megan Breckenridge service ace, to take a 5-3 lead. Later, with the score tied at 6-6, Oregon Tech ran off five straight points, getting kills from Faryn Case, Kelsey Sampson and Bailey Nelson, to take the momentum and an 11-6 advantage. Evergreen got as close as four points on two occasions after that, but an attack error by the hosts ended the set and the match.
The Owls came out strong in the opening set, hitting .407 to take the 25-17 victory. Nelson was particularly tough with six kills and no errors in 10 attempts. The set started out close with the teams tied at 8-8 before Tech ran off seven straight points, six on Sampson’s serve.
Not surprisingly given the final score, the second set featured an incredible 23 ties and 11 lead changes. Amazingly, Oregon Tech never led by more than three points, that coming at 21-18, while the Geoducks took their only two-point lead when they scored the final point on an Oregon Tech attack error.
It was in the second set that the primary offensive attack of choice for both teams came to the fore. In the case of the Geoducks, it was sophomore outside hitter Natalie Taylor who finished with eight kills in 20 attempts. On the Oregon Tech side, Sampson had nine kills in 13 swings while Nelson added six more kills in 17 attempts.
Those three continued to be the focal points of their team’s offense throughout the remainder of the contest. The third set saw Taylor add another eight kills in 18 swings, while Nelson had five kills and Sampson three more in the third set. There were three ties and three lead changes in the set, but once the Geoducks broke free from a 7-7 deadlock on a Chloee Hunt kill, they surged to take a 21-15 advantage. The Owls rallied back, eventually gaining a 23-22 advantage on a Nelson finish, but kills by Taylor and Bethanie Nelson, sandwiched around a Lexi Barkley service ace, finished the set in Evergreen’s favor.
Needing to win the fourth set to keep the match alive, Oregon Tech scored the first three points and never trailed. Samantha Szachara had eight kills in the match, but four of them came in the fourth set for the Owls.
That brought about the fifth set, and with it a strong offensive effort from the visitors’ Sampson, who had five kills in six attack attempts.
Sampson ended up with 22 kills in 52 attempts and a .288 attack percentage, while Nelson had 21 kills on 65 swings. Bella Foss ended the match with 22 digs to pace the visitors in that category.
Evergreen’s Taylor was outstanding with a season-high 26 kills on 74 attempts for a .216 attack percentage. Kylie Kytan had 40 assists and both Taylor and Breckenridge ended the match with 22 digs.
Both teams return to conference action at 5 p.m. tomorrow, Oregon Tech playing at Northwest in Kirkland and Evergreen hosting Southern Oregon in Costantino Recreation Center.