OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Evergreen Geoducks won their first set of the 2011 season but it was the visiting Northwest Christian Beacons that claimed the 3-1 victory in a Cascade Collegiate Conference volleyball match on Friday evening at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, Wash.
The Beacons (7-5, 2-3 CCC) claimed the first point of the match off a kill by Maren Mansfield but the Geoducks (0-5, 0-4 CCC) grabbed the next two to let NCU know that they came to play. Northwest Christian claimed the lead back shortly after and began to pull away, holding a 12-5 advantage at one point. The Geoducks fought back to tie the set at 16 all but a five-point run was enough to give the Beacons the cushion to take the lead in the match with a 25-17 set one victory.
It was Evergreen that grabbed the first point of the second set but the lead didn’t last long as NCU used a series of runs to build a sizable lead over the Geoducks. It was one of those runs, a six-point swing, that let the Beacons sprint to the second set win, 25-11, as Northwest Christian hit .375 in the frame, putting down 13 kills with just one error on 32 attacks.
The third set was the highlight of the match for Evergreen as they battled early with the Beacons but the Geoducks were able to go on a 6-1 run that gave them a 17-12 advantage. Northwest Christian couldn’t catch up as the Geoducks won their first set in 15 attempts by a score of 25-17. Evergreen hit .152 on the game, putting down 11 kills with six assists on 33 total attempts.
Northwest Christian was able to wrap up the match in the fourth set but not without a little bit of fight from Evergreen. The Geoducks looked to be in control early, holding an 11-9 lead at one point but a six-point swing gave the lead back to Beacons and Evergreen just ran out of juice as Northwest Christian earned the 25-19 win to clinch the match, 3-1.
Evergreen was led by 14 kills from Stephanie Peshlakai-John (Kirtland, N.M./West Texas College). Erin Mitchell (Santa Cruz, Calif./Mt. Madonna School) added 24 assists while newcomer Sonja Arassi (Sandy, Utah/Westminster College) led the team with 17 digs on the match.
Northwest Christian was led by a match-high 21 kills from Danielle Nance. Cori Wallace put up 37 assists for the visiting Beacons while Janel Fetters led the squad with 18 digs on the night. The Beacons hit .211 on the night, putting down 48 kills with 18 errors on 142 attacks, as they broke a two-match losing streak to the Geoducks, who swept NCU in 2010.
Evergreen plays host to Corban on Saturday in a match at South Puget Sound Community College while the Beacons will travel up to Kirkland to take on Northwest University. Both matches are set to start 7:00 p.m.
