No. 9 Southern Oregon Too Much for Evergreen
One night after putting together a strong offensive performance in taking a four-set victory over Oregon Tech, the Evergreen Geoducks couldn’t match a fired-up Southern Oregon team as the visiting Raiders swept a three-set Cascade Collegiate Conference volleyball win Saturday night inside Costantino Recreation Center.
The Geoducks (7-10 overall, 5-3 CCC) hit .175 and committed seven service errors in falling to Southern Oregon (15-1, 8-1), which played with extra fire after seeing their season-opening 14-match winning streak come to an end in a five-set loss to Northwest University the previous evening.
The Raiders hit .365 as a team, including .410 in the opening set and .425 in the final set. Only in the second set, which featured 14 ties and five lead changes, would Evergreen battle the visitors on even terms.
In that second set, the Geoducks took a 16-15 lead on a Southern Oregon attack error, but an Evergreen service error led to the Raiders scoring six consecutive points to build a 21-16 advantage. The visitors had four kills and a combo block in scoring the final five points in that run.
Taylor Ristvedt was unstoppable for the Raiders, finishing with 15 kills and no errors on 25 attempts for a .600 attack percentage. Maile Rube added 10 kills and hit .412, while Makayla Hoyt had eight kills and hit .467. Natalie James had 29 assists and the Raiders finished with five team blocks.
Evergreen leaders were Lehualani Keka with seven kills, Sierra Wolff with 17 assists and Natalie Taylor with seven digs.
The Geoducks return to action next weekend with conference matches against Warner Pacific an Multnomah in Portland, Ore.