Junior Olivia Shropshire tallied a match-high 12 kills on 17 swings with just one hitting error, as Corban earned its first CCC win of the season thanks to a sweep of Evergreen Thursday inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
Shropshire & Corban Cage Geoducks of Evergreen For First CCC Win of Season
BOX SCORE
SALEM, Ore. – In an odd non-weekend night match for Corban's women's volleyball team, junior Olivia Shropshire registered a match-high 12 kills on 17 swings in the Warriors' three-set sweep of Evergreen (25-10, 25-17, 25-12) to earn the team's first Cascade Collegiate Conference win of the season Thursday inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
"I think that we showed really good discipline that resulted in a solid performance all-around," said head coach Tracy Smith. "Everyone contributed and its showed in tonight's result, which will help us as we move forward in the rest of the CCC schedule."
Along with Shropshire's performance, senior Chandra Teague and freshman Caitlin Marinos added nine and six kills, respectively. Sophomore setter Katherine Salness guided the Warriors' offense with a match-high 27 assists, while teaming with Teague on a team-best 10 digs defensively. At the net, Shropshire recorded a match-high tying four blocks to go along with a match-high three service aces by junior Karisa Legg.
The opening set would belong to Corban from the beginning, as the host Warriors jumped out to an eight-point lead (11-3) on a Legg service ace. Corban would continue to apply the offensive pressure, as the Warriors extended their lead to 10 points (17-7) on an Evergreen hitting error before closing out the set on an 8-3 run for the 25-10 victory.
Set #2 would be a dog fight over the opening 14 combined points before Corban broke a 7-7 tie with an 8-2 behind the serving of freshman Hannah Flores and fellow freshman Kiersten Hilt resulting in a 15-9 Warrior lead following a service ace by Hilt. Evergreen would pull within two points (16-14) on a kill by Brittney Covert before Corban closed things out on a 9-3 run resulting in a 25-17 victory to take a 2-0 lead in sets.
The third and final set was another back-and-forth battle over the opening 18 combined points before Corban used another run behind the serving skills of Legg that broke a 9-all deadlock with a 6-0 run that included a pair of kills by Shropshire and Marinos for a 15-9 lead. Corban would extend its lead to 10 points (21-11) on an Evergreen hitting error before the Warriors settled for the 25-12 victory and the team's first sweep since August 29th in a victory over first-year program New Hope Christian.
Evergreen was led offensively by Cassidy Watkins with a team-high 11 kills, while Covert added four kills of her own. The Geoducks' Sasha Nash would led ESC's offensive attack with 20 assists, while Sonja Arrasi-Nash anchored Evergreen's defense with a match-high 14 digs. Covert would tie for the match lead with four blocks, while Kameo Dela Cuadra recorded the only Geoduck service ace of the match.
With tonight's result, Corban improves to 3-8 overall and 1-4 in Cascade Collegiate Conference action. Meanwhile, Evergreen remains winless in 2012 at 0-13 overall and 0-4 in CCC matches. The Warriors will return to action tomorrow – Friday, September 14th – when they host the visiting Eagles of Northwest beginning at 7:00 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center in Salem.