Playoffs Guaranteed After Win Over Olympic

Everett, WA - The Trojans had an opportunity on Wednesday night to seal a trip to the playoffs for the first time since 2014.  There was a three year stretch where EvCC volleyball did not win a single North Region match, but 3rd year coach Whitney Williams has EvCC in position to close out this regular season with a winning record (last accomplished in 2015) and could finish anywhere from fourth in the standings all the way up to tied for first, depending on how the next week and a half plays out across the region. 

Entering the match against Olympic, the Trojans held onto a two game advantage over Whatcom and Edmonds for third place and sat just a game behind Bellevue and Skagit Valley.  Knowing that a win would solidify at least a spot in the playoffs the Trojans came ready to play and cruised to a comfortable 25-14 first set win.  Malia Shepherd and Annika Jones contributed with 4 and 3 kills respectively in that set and Sarah Campfield also added 2 blocks and a kill.  

The second set mirrored the first as Everett jumped out to a 7-1 lead, and then made another 6-point run to put the match out of hand at 21-8.  An Erin Ingram kill (her 4th of the match to that point) ended set two by a final score of 25-14.  It was another balanced attack as five different Trojans recorded a kill, once again led by Malia Shepherd who racked up another four.  

Olympic showed some grit in the third set jumping out to a 4-1 lead and then holding a three point lead all the way up until 13-10.  The Trojans fought back to tie the game at 16-16 on an Erin Ingram kill, and then took their first lead of the set at 17-16 on an Olympic attack error.  The Rangers came back to tie it at 17, but a run of five straight punctuated by another Malia Shepherd kill put the set and the match on ice.  Everett went on to claim set three by a final score of 25-20 led this time by Erin Ingram who finished the set with seven kills.  

For the match, the dual attack threat of Erin and Malia each finished with 11 kills apiece and Sarah Campfield came up big with 6 kills and 3 blocks.  Annika Jones had one of her best games with 7 kills and 2 service aces while Jayda Grosboll finished with another solid 34 assist performance.  As a team the Trojan hitting effeciency was .283, their highest in 12 matches and they covered the floor defensively with 51 total digs and 5 blocks.  

Everett will play Skagit Valley who currently is a half game ahead of the Trojans on Friday night.  EvCC bested the Cardinals in their last meeting in a 3-1 victory at home.  That game will be at 7:00pm in Mount Vernon.