LA GRANDE, Ore. – With just six healthy bodies suiting up, the Evergreen Geoducks struggled in their season opener but got better with each set as they were swept by the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers in a Cascade Conference volleyball match on Friday night in La Grande, Ore.
In the first set, the Mounties (1-6, 1-0 CCC) quickly built a lead, holding a 10-2 advantage before the Geoducks (0-1, 0-1 CCC) managed their first kill of the night. EOU cruised through the first set, picking up a 25-5 set one win after committing just one attack error on 14 attempts.
In the second set, Evergreen managed to improve their hitting percentage but so did Eastern Oregon as they put down 15 kills en route to a 25-4 set two win as they took the early advantage.
In the third set, Evergreen founds themselves down early but climbed back within four points at 12-8 but EOU then used a 13-2 run, including eight straight points to end the match, to collect the 25-10 set win and sweep the match in three.
The Geoducks were led by four kills each from Jasmine Horton (Seattle, Wash./Foster HS) and Stephanie Peshlakai-John (Kirtland, N.M./Western Texas College). Taylor Good (Dupont, Wash./Steilacoom HS) led the team with eight digs while Horton picked up the Geoducks’ only block of the night.
Things won’t get any easier for Evergreen on Saturday night as they venture into the Mountain Time Zone for a match against 10th-ranked College of Idaho, beginning at 7pm MDT in Caldwell, Idaho.
