Geoducks Come Close But Can't Top Mountaineers
The Evergreen State College won two of the first three sets Friday night but couldn't close the deal as No. 13-ranked Eastern Oregon rallied for a five-set victory in Cascade Collegiate Conference volleyball action inside Costantino Recreation Center.
Set scores were 21-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-21, 15-11.
The Mountaineers (10-4 overall, 4-1 CCC) got kills from six different players and hit .345 in the fifth-and-deciding set. They broke away from a 4-4 deadlock, taking a 7-4 lead on two straight kills by Isabelle Statkus and one from Megan Bunn. The Geoducks were able to whittle their deficit to two points, but four answered points gave the Mountaineers a 13-6 advantage, and after a brief Evergreen run they closed out the match on a kill by Amanda Miller.
Evergreen had its two best hitting percentages in the sets that it won, including a .256 mark in the first set and .233 in the third. Natalie Taylor had four kills in the opening set and six more in the third to lead the Geoducks, who also got eight digs in both sets from Tori Wegdahl.
Those numbers paled in comparison to the junior libero's outstanding play in a fourth set that saw her register 13 digs.
That fourth set featured several runs, Eastern Oregon scoring five straight points to take a 9-6 lead, and Evergreen answering with four in a row to take an 11-10 advantage. Another three-point run put the Geoducks on top, 14-12, but the Mountaineers came back with five straight to take a 17-14 lead. Though the Geoducks got within a point on three occasions, they couldn't come all the way back, setting up the crucial fifth set.
Taylor led all players with 21 kills and she hit a solid .255 for the Geoducks, but she was the only Evergreen player to hit double-digits in kills. Wegdahl finished the match with 36 digs, tying her for fourth place on the Evergreen single-match Top 10 list. Matalasi Laban had 42 assists and Chloee Hunt recorded one solo block and four block assists for Evergreen.
Eastern Oregon's balanced attack was evident in five different players finishing with double-figures in kills, led by Miller with 17 while hitting .371. Madisen Garlie had a solid match with 14 kills, one solo block and six block assists, and Kiley McMurtrey led her team with 27 digs.
Both teams are in action tomorrow night, Evergreen hosting No. 8-ranked College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon playing at Northwest University in Kirkland.