LEWISTON, Idaho – A strenuous five-set battle ended in favor of the Evergreen State College Geoducks in the P1FCU Activity Center on Friday night.
Kenzie Dean joined the 1,000-Dig Club and
Grecia Ung Enriquez tallied a career-high 25 kills in the bout, but the Geoducks came away with the 3-2 (20-25, 24-26, 25-23, 27-25, 15-12) victory.
"This is a tough one to process," Head Coach
Shaun Pohlman said. "The difference in winning or losing this game is a total of seven points between three sets, not to mention we held one of the nation's leading attackers from performing anywhere near her best, and our point production was the highest it's been all season. It was great to see our offense flowing a little more this match.
"Unfortunately, it really came down to managing errors," Pohlman continued. "Early in the match our servers were working, but we missed way too many late in the match. That allowed them to get a little offensive flow while our hitting errors were too high in every set. We will need to continue finding ways to be offensive while managing those errors."
TESC got off to a hot start in the opening frame with a 6-2 lead. The advantage grew to 12-6 before LC State struck for four straight to cut the deficit to 12-10. A kill by
Cassidy Nelson sparked a seven-point Warrior rally, fueled by a block by
Jada Wyms and
Lisi Langi, kill by Wyms, ace by
Jennah Carpenter and another kill by Nelson. The span gave LC an 18-14 lead. Kills by
Hallie Seaman and Nelson helped close out the set by a final of 25-20.
The rest of the match was closely contested, with the rest of the sets ending in a difference of three points or less.
Evergreen jumped out in front in set two with a 9-4 cushion. Kills by Ung Enriquez and Seaman and an ace by Ung Enriquez cut the margin to two, 9-7. A run of three on a block by Wyms and Langi, ace by Nelson and kill by Ung Enriquez put LC ahead 13-12, and then an ace by
Esther Kailiponi kept the Warriors in front 16-15.
Back-to-back aces and a pair of kills by Nelson pushed the LC advantage to 21-17, but the Geoducks rallied to even the set 24-24. Wyms and Ung Enriquez struck two straight kills to give LC a 26-24 set win.
The back-and-forth fell in favor of TESC over the next three sets. The Geoducks surged for a 15-8 lead, but kills by Berntson and Ung Enriquez kept LC within four (16-12). Big swings by Nelson and Wyms, as well as a block by Wyms and Berntson, cut the Evergreen lead to one, 24-23, but a kill by TESC's Zoe Shaw ended the frame.
LC State rebounded to take a 6-2 lead in the fourth with kills by Ung Enriquez and an ace by Kailiponi. Evergreen answered to take a 15-13 lead and held the advantage until the Warriors struck for five points to tie the set 20-20.
Kills by Langi and Ung Enriquez gave LC a 23-20 lead, but a 5-2 run by TESC sent the match into the fifth set.
A kill by Berntson and block by Wyms and Langi had the Warriors ahead 8-7 as the two teams switched sides in the deciding set. TESC jumped ahead 11-9 before a kill by Ung Enriquez evened things up 11-11. The Geoducks closed things out by a final of 15-12.
Ung Enriquez led the match with her career-high 25 kills to go with four aces. Nelson tallied 23 kills with two aces. Dean led the defense with 15 digs and
Kendzee Cloward had 13.
Carpenter completed a double-double with 33 assists and 11 digs, while Wyms led LC at the net with seven blocks paired with Langi's five.
Evergreen's Zoe Shaw led TESC with 13 kills and 21 digs, and Sierra Wolf dealt 35 assists.
UP NEXT
The Warrior wrap up the home stand on Saturday at 5 p.m. against Northwest University. LC State will hit the road next weekend for matches at Multnomah and Warner Pacific.
Stay up to date on all things Warrior Athletics at
lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.
