KIRKLAND, Wash. – Putting together three competitive sets, the Evergreen Geoducks played well but it wasn’t enough as the Northwest Eagles earned the straight-set win, 25-18, 25-18, 26-24, in a Cascade Conference volleyball match on Friday night at NU Pavilion in Kirkland, Wash.
The first set was competitive all throughout as the Geoducks never let Northwest take a very large lead. It wasn’t until a 5-1 run in the closing points that the Eagles really pulled ahead, taking the 25-18 win.
In the second set, the Geoducks used a 5-0 run to take an early 6-2 lead over the Eagles. Northwest eventually used a 5-0 run, all on Geoduck errors, to pull ahead 10-9 and the two squads continued to battle for much of the frame. The Eagles used a late five-point swing to put the set out of reach and a Geoduck service error gave Northwest another 25-18 win.
The third set nearly went Evergreen’s way as the Geoducks found themselves leading 23-21 late but Northwest used three straight kills by Rae Ann Haistings to slip past the Geoducks and clinch the match with a 26-24 set three victory.
Evergreen was led by 10 kills from Cassidy Watkins (Tucson, Ariz./Trevecca Nazarene Univ.). Sasha Nash (Sandy, Utah/Skyline HS) led the Geoducks with 24 assists while Sonja Arrasi-Nash (Sandy, Utah/Westminster College) picked up 12 digs on the night.
Northwest was led by 10 kills from Olivia Vandlac. Ashton Arbuthnot put up 33 assists on the night while Heather Shulke led all players with 21 digs for the Eagles. As a team, NU had 42 kills with 15 errors on 118 total attack.
The Geoducks are back in action next Friday when they travel to Caldwell, Idaho to take on College of Idaho. Match time with the Yotes is set for 7:00 p.m. MDT.