Knights Stop Geoducks in Regular Season Finale
Warner Pacific put a damper on Evergreen Volleyball Senior Night, riding out of Costantino Recreation Center with a 25-17, 25-18, 25-19 win over the Geoducks in the 2018 Cascade Collegiate Conference and regular season finale for both teams.
While the visiting Knights (10-16 overall, 8-12 CCC) were playing their final match of the season, the Geoducks (12-17, 10-10) advance to the conference postseason tournament as the No. 6 seed and will play No. 3 seed College of Idaho at 7 p.m. (MST) Tuesday in Caldwell, Idaho. Evergreen advances to conference postseason play for only the second time since the advent of the program in 2001, and for the first time since 2003.
Warner Pacific gained the momentum from the opening serve and never let the Geoducks into the match, finishing with 51 kills and a .309 attack percentage compared to 26 kills and a .180 rate for the Geoducks.
Warner's Melisa Ljuca, second in the conference in kills per set, finished the match with 16 kills and was joined in double-figure kills by Lauren Tennyson with 11 and Macy DuCoeur with 10. Kealia Rosa, the league leader in assists, had 41 of those to go along with three of the team's nine service aces. Leading the back row was Mercedes Massey with 14 digs.
Outside hitter Natalie Taylor, one of four seniors to be honored prior to the start of the match, led Evergreen with 11 kills, and the Geoducks finished with eight team blocks, including one solo block and three block assists by middle blocker Tasha Hungate. Joining Taylor as seniors playing their final home match were libero Alexis Garrison, outside hitter Lehualani Keka and defensive specialist Kathleena Ly.