SPOKANE, Wash. – Opening up a new era, the Evergreen Geoducks battled tough but fell in both of their season opening matches on Thursday at the Red Lion Cascade/Frontier Challenge in Spokane, Wash. The Geoducks went four sets with 25th-ranked Carroll in their first match before falling to Great Falls in the day’s finale.
In their first match of 2013, the Geoducks gave the nationally-ranked Saints all that they could handle, taking the second set before falling in four.
Junior Victoria Love (Seaside, Calif./Seaside HS/Hartnell College) shined in her Evergreen debut, throwing down 16 kills with just two errors on 39 attempts for a .359 clip. Senior Cassidy Watkins (Tucson, Ariz./Mountain View HS/Trevecca Nazarene Univ.) had a solid match as well, putting down 13 kills. Kelsey Delagrange (Longview, Wash./Kelso HS/Mt. Hood CC) had 35 assists on the afternoon while Liza Domingo (Ka’a’awa, Hawai’i/Kahuku HS/Lower Columbia College) had 13 digs.
As a team, the Geoducks hit .180 on the match, connecting for 42 kills with 18 errors on 133 total attacks. Evergreen finished with seven blocks and eight service aces in the loss.
In their final match of the first day, the Geoducks struggled to find their swing as the Argos of Great Falls took advantage to collect the sweep.
Love added eight kills in the loss, adding a pair of blocks. Delagrange put up 21 assists with Domingo finished the match with 18 digs.
The Geoducks will be back in action on Friday when they take on North Idaho in a scrimmage at 10 a.m. and Montana State-Northern at 4 p.m. Both matches will be played at the HUB Sports Center in Liberty Lake, Wash.