Evergreen Unable to Overcome No. 13 EOU
Evergreen battled visiting Eastern Oregon on nearly even terms Saturday night, but in the end the No. 13-ranked Mountaineers left Costantino Recreation Center with a four-set victory in Cascade Collegiate Conference volleyball action.
Set scores were 28-26, 20-25, 25-21, 25-20.
Despite losing their fourth straight, the Geoducks (10-15 overall, 8-8 CCC) were a couple of swing points away from walking out of the gym with the win, or at least pushing the visitors to a fifth set. As it was, the Mountaineers won for the 14th time in their past 15 matches.
There were an incredible 19 ties and seven lead changes in the first set, and the Geoducks held a 23-21 lead on a Natalie Taylor kill prior to Eastern Oregon running off three straight points. Evergreen was able to fend off three set points before Hailee Ackerman got a kill to give the set to the Mountaineers, 28-26.
After hitting just .102 in the first set, the Geoducks warmed up to a .250 attack rate in the second set, including eight kills and just one error on 19 attempts by Taylor. The 25-21 Evergreen win put the sets even at one apiece.
As close as the first set was, the third set featured 14 ties and 10 lead changes. Again, the Geoducks led fairly late in that one at 19-16 after consecutive Chloee Hunt kills, but Eastern scored nine of the final 11 points to take the set. Ackerman and Megan Bunn both had a pair of kills during that run, which also featured a pair of blocks by the Mountaineers, who lead the conference in that category.
Evergreen got off to a fast start in the fourth set, leading 4-0 initially and later 12-7 before Eastern Oregon ran off 10 consecutive points to pull away. Kiley McMurtrey served nine straight points, including a trio of service aces, to highlight the streak.
Taylor had a big match for the Geoducks with 25 kills, which ties for seventh on the Evergreen single-match list. Hunt was also impressive with 16 kills while attacking at a .412 rate, and Sierra Wolff finished with 50 assists. Libero Alexis Garrison had her best match in two seasons for the Geoducks, recording 33 assists and moving into 10th on the single-match digs list.
Eastern Oregon spread the attack with Bunn and Ackerman both recording 14 kills and Taylor Tibbetts adding 11. Defensively, the Mountaineers registered 14 team blocks, including a solo block and six block assists by Jet Taylor. When the ball got past the front wall, Bunn was there to pick up 24 digs, followed by McMurtrey with 18.
The Mountaineers finished with a .160 attack percentage compared to .126 for the Geoducks.
Evergreen hits the road for more conference matches next week when they play at Southern Oregon on Friday and Oregon Tech on Saturday.