OLYMPIA, Wash. – The No. 3 Corban University Women's Volleyball team (25-3, 18-2) suffered only their third loss of the season to the Senior Night hype on the road against The Evergreen State College Geoducks (14-10, 13-7), dropping a five-set marathon to fall from the top spot of the CCC standings.
"Evergreen came to play tonight!" Corban Head Coach Kim McLain shared shortly after the result. "We battled yet made too many unforced errors and did not take care of the intangibles. Our defense struggled tonight, especially at the net. We look forward to getting back in our gym to refocus and work on each phase of the game."
Difficulties at the service line and defensively at the net once again proved to be the downfall for the Warriors, as their third loss on the season saw them struggle in those areas the same as in their previous two losses. Those areas continue to be the Achilles' heel for the juggernaut Warriors, who overall scored more kills, more assists, more digs, and a higher attacking percentage than the home team Geoducks, yet still came out on the wrong side of the result.
From the beginning of set one, the Warriors clearly did not have their A-game tonight, quickly falling to a 3-10 deficit and forcing McLain into calling a very early timeout to reinspire her student-athletes. Corban did manage to rally off five-straight points to pull within four later in the set, but another Geoduck onslaught quickly diminished any hopes of a Warrior comeback, with Evergreen State taking the set 25-20.
Dropping the first set ignited a fire within the Warriors' offense over the next two sets, recording at least a .349 attacking percentage over sets two and three. Depsite an early lead for Corban, the Geoducks rallied back tie the set at 24-all, but back-to-back kills from outside hitters Avari Ridgway and Rylee Troutman gave the Warriors the set win at 26-24, evening the contest at a set apiece.
Corban began the third set on a 5-0 run, determined not to let this contest run away from them. The Geoducks couldn't manage more than back-to-back points the remainder of the set, as the Warriors ran away with the third set 25-16 to take a 2-1 set lead.
Seeing the momentum shift, Evergreen State's crowd jumped back into action, providing the Geoducks with a kickstart to lead Corban late into the fourth set, and nothing the Warriors could do from facing the ever-worrisome fifth set pressure.
Corban's first loss of the season came in five sets against SAGU in their first non-conference tournament to begin the year, going 3-0 in five set matches since then. Today's fifth set would go on to break that streak, as the Warriors managed a lowly .136 attacking percentage to hand the Geoducks the upset win in their final home game of the 2022 season.
Troutman continued to do magical things for the Warriors, recording an even 18-kill and 18-dig performance to easily clinch her 12th double-double of the year. Sophomore middle blocker Allyson Reid recorded the highest kill count of her young career, tallying 14 kills and a .478 swing rate for her most consistent game of the season.
Senior setter Jadyn Mullen was the only other Corban student-athlete to post double-digit stats in multiple categories, dealing out 30 assists and pairing them in the backcourt with 12 digs. Meanwhile, senior libero Kealani Ontai earned the game-high in digs with 21, adding seven assists when called upon.
The Geoducks were led by opposite hitter Lily Stewart, who delivered a game-high 24 kills and 12 digs in the backcourt to provide Evergreen State with clutch kills all night long, alongside five block assists. Outside hitter Zoey Shaw tallied 13 kills and 19 digs to tie libero Rylee Grams with the team-high defensively.
The No. 3 Corban Women's Volleyball team will return home for the final weekend of the CCC regular season, as they will play host to Lewis-Clark State College (16-9, 12-8) at 7pm PDT next Friday, November 4th, before hosting the Walla Walla University Wolves (1-19, 1-19) for the Warriors' Senior Night at 8:30pm PDT on Saturday evening.
Follow Corban Athletics:
Facebook l Twitter l Instagram l Snapchat l YouTube l Email
Download our App: iOS (iPhone/iPad) l Android
