ASHLAND, Ore. – Traveling to one of the traditional powers in the Cascade Conference, the Evergreen Geoducks put up a good fight before falling to the Southern Oregon Raiders in a CCC volleyball match on Friday night in Ashland, Ore.

In the first set, the Raiders weren’t quite sure who the team on the other side of the net was as the Geoducks battled with SOU.  With the match tied at 15-15, the Raiders took the lead for the final time, eventually using a three-point streak to clinch the first set, 25-21.

SOU used a quick start in set two to pull ahead early at 8-2 but Evergreen battled right back into it, pulling within three at 11-8.  A few points later, the Geoducks fell victim to a six-point run by Southern Oregon and a late Evergreen push wasn’t enough to prevent the Raiders from earning the 25-18 set two win.

The third set featured two SOU runs that gave the Raiders enough of an advantage to keep the Geoducks at Bay.  Leading 16-13, Southern pushed the lead to 20-13 and the gap was too much for Evergreen to overcome as the Raiders clinched the match with a 25-16 set three win.

Evergreen was led by 13 kills from Victoria Love (Seaside, Calif./Seaside HS/Hartnell College).  Kelsey Delagrange (Longview, Wash./Kelso HS/Mt Hood CC) led the way with 18 assists while Natimia Barker-Doss (Tacoma, Wash./Wilson HS/Pierce College) had 12 assits.  The Geoducks hit .170 on the match, connecting for 35 kills with 19 errors on 94 attacks.

Southern Oregon was led by 14 kills with just one errors for Nikki Keller, who hit an incredible .812 on just 16 attacks.  Emma Gasman added 11 kills while Paulla Pinheiro put up 10 kills in the win.  Lauren McGowne earned the assist on 50 of 52 kills while Renee Yomtob finished with 12 digs on the night.

The Geoducks return to action on Saturday night when they travel to Oregon Tech.  First serve with the Hustlin’ Owls is set for 5 p.m. in Klamath Falls, Ore.

Box Score