NORTHWEST HOLDS OFF EVERGREEN CHALLENGE
The Evergreen State College battled on nearly even terms with nationally ranked Northwest University in Cascade Collegiate Conference volleyball action Saturday night before the visiting Eagles flew out of Costantino Recreation Center with the victory.
Northwest (8-2 overall, 2-0 CCC) defeated Evergreen (4-5, 1-1) by set scores of 25-11, 19-25, 25-20, 25-23.
The Eagles, just outside of the NAIA Top 25 but high on the "receiving votes" list, used its usual balanced attack to pick up the victory. Amanda Waterman finished with nine kills to lead four players with at least seven kills, and the Eagles finished with a .131 team attack percentage. The back row defense came to the fore on this night as Alysanne Van Dyk, showed by she is the conference leader by recording 25 digs.
Evergreen also had some impressive individual stats as
Natalie Taylor finished with 18 kills, followed closely by
Megan Breckenridge with 13 kills and 23 digs.
Tori Wegdahl also recorded 23 kills as the Geoducks ended the match with 85 total, and the blocking was impressive with 10 team blocks, including one solo and five assists from
Chloee Hunt and one solo and four block assists from
Tasha Hungate.
The Geoducks hit a negative percentage in a first set that was never close, but Taylor found her rhythm in the second set with seven kills to lead her team to the set victory.
Waterman had four kills and two block assists to lead Northwest in the third set, leading to an exciting fourth set that ended on an attack error after a Northwest overpass. Sarah Warner, who struggled in the attack in the middle two sets, had five of her kills to lead Northwest to the win.
The Eagles took the early lead in the fourth set, eventually building an 18-13 lead. That's when the Geoducks made it interesting, scoring six straight points to go ahead 19-18. Breckenridge, who has played libero for most of the season before switching to outside hitter for this match, was clutch with three kills during the 6-0 run.
After Northwest took advantage of four straight Evergreen errors to take a 22-19 lead, the Geoducks eventually tied the score at 23-23 on a Breckenridge service ace, but the set and match ended on a Keann White kill and the ensuing Geoducks attack error.
Evergreen hits the road for its next two conference matches, playing at Northwest Christian on Friday and preseason conference favorite Corban on Saturday.