OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Evergreen Geoducks was point-for-point with one of the nation’s best in the second frame but lopsided efforts in the first and third allowed the 15th-ranked Southern Oregon Raiders to leave with the straight set victory in a Cascade Conference volleyball match on Friday night at CRC Gymnasium in Olympia, Wash.
The Raiders (16-4, 13-2 CCC) used a 10-point run in the first frame to build a big leave over the Geoducks (0-16, 0-15 CCC) as Southern Oregon cruised to a 25-6 set one win. SOU has just one attack error in the opening frame, hitting .423 with 12 kills on 26 attacks. On the other side of the net, Evergreen had just five kills with nine errors on 28 attacks.
The second set was a whole different ballgame as Evergreen played point-for-point with their nationally ranked opponent. SOU pushed the lead to seven points late but the Geoducks fought back before falling, 25-22. The Raiders put down 17 kills with 7 errors on 43 attacks for a .233 hitting percentage while the Geoducks had 12 kills and 7 errors on 46 attacks for a .109 clip.
Evergreen maintained the momentum early in the third frame, keeping it close but a 21-4 run was enough to give SOU the victory as they took the third set, 25-7. The Raiders had their best hitting frame in the final set, putting down 11 kills with one error on just 16 attempts. The Geoducks had just two kills with nine errors on 17 attacks to end the match.
The Geoducks were led by 10 kills from senior Jasmine Horton (Seattle, Wash./Foster HS). Stephanie Peshlakai-John (Kirtland, N.M./West Texas College) added nine kills while sophomore setter Erin Mitchell (Santa Cruz, Calif./Mt. Madonna School) put up 17 assists in the losing effort.
Southern Oregon was paced by 14 kills from Sarah Holgen. Caryn Westrick finished with 12 assists on the night while Angela Spieker came off the bench to add 11. Becky Johnstone led all players with 11 digs on the night.
The Geoducks wrap up the home portion of the 2011 schedule on Saturday afternoon when they play host to Oregon Tech beginning at 1:00 pm. Southern Oregon will also be in action, travelling up to Northwest for a match set to begin at 7:00 pm.
