Head coach Angela Spoja celebrates the victory with the team.
Epic Rally as Geoducks Take Down Beacons
OLYMPIA – Facing a 2-0 deficit in sets and behind by six points in the third set, The Evergreen State College put together an epic rally Saturday night, coming back to beat Northwest Christian in five sets in Cascade Collegiate Conference volleyball action in Costantino Recreation Center.
The Geoducks (3-11 overall, 2-6 CCC) put an end to a six-match losing streak in exciting fashion, pumping up a home crowd and then feeding off the energy created by their fans. Set scores were 22-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-17, 15-13.
Though the first set score was close, the visiting Beacons scored the first point and never trailed. Taylor Burnett recorded five kills and Laurie Salness and Keri Schwarz combined on a pair of blocks to give the visitors the early advantage.
The second set had three ties, but again the Beacons never trailed while hitting .214. Cassidy Winters was hot during the set with four kills in six attacks, and Burnett added four more kills.
When Evergreen grabbed an early 5-4 lead in the third set, it marked the first time in the match that the hosts had been ahead. Soon enough, though, Northwest Christian regained a 12-6 advantage and seemed to be sailing to a three-set victory. Facing that uphill climb, the Geoducks grabbed the crucial momentum, eventually tying the score at 17-17 on a Renita Gray kill. They broke away from an 18-18 tie on a kill by Chloee Hunt and never again trailed. Both Natalie Taylor and Bethanie Nelson had a pair of kills down the stretch as the Geoducks took the set.
After hitting .059 in the first set and .150 in the second, Evergreen continued to show improvement in its attack with a .194 percentage in the third set. The fourth was really spectacular as the Geoducks hit .481, led by Taylor with six kills and no errors in 11 attempts and Jorden Porter with five kills and one error in eight swings. The Beacons, meanwhile, hit -.057 in the set.
Northwest Christian had the very early lead in that set, and there were four ties, but once the Geoducks took the edge at 9-8, they stayed on top, eventually winning the set by eight points.
The hosts continued to play well in the early portion of the fifth-and-deciding set, delighting their fired-up crowd by surging ahead by a 10-4 score. Northwest Christian was not done, however, and came all the way back to tie it at 13-13 when Schwarz and Salness combined on a block.
A Beacons attack error, followed by a Nelson kill, finally ended the match and put Evergreen in the win column. NCU hit .029 in the final set compared to .118 for the Geoducks.
The Geoducks hit .187 as a team and got 19 kills from Taylor and 15 more from Porter. Kylie Kytan was credited with 49 assists and Megan Breckenridge had 22 digs and three aces. The Geoducks had 10 team blocks, including six block assists by Hunt and five each by Nelson and Porter.
The Beacons cooled off as the match progressed and ended up hitting .087 as a team. Burnett and Winters both had 15 kills and Haley Damian led all players with 23 digs. Salness and Schwarz both finished the match with seven block assists.
Evergreen returns to conference action at 7 p.m. Thursday when it hosts No. 20-ranked Northwest University.