Trojan Volleyball Finishes in Top 12

Albany, OR - The Trojan Volleyball team clinched a trip to the NWAC playoffs for the first time in 9 years by finishing 4th in the North Region Standings.  Third-year head coach Whitney Williams, turned around an Everett program that had won just two north region matches in a four year period.  In 2021 the team won 3 north region matches (9 overall) and used that momentum along with sophomore leaders in Sarah Campfield, Jayda Grosboll, and Erin Ingram to go 7-5 in North Region play and post a 19-15 overall record, the first winning record since 2015.  

As the 4 seed out of the north, the Trojans got a tough draw having to travel down to Albany, OR as the number 1 ranked NWAC team, Linn Benton played host to #2 out of the east Columbia Basin (26-2) and #3 from the west Pierce College (12-15).  In this double elimination format, two teams would advance to the Elite 8 in Lakewood, WA the following weekend.

In the first match, the Trojans squared off with Linn-Benton (29-1), their only loss this season coming to Columbia Basin back in mid September.  After a rocky first set resulting, in a 25-16 loss, EvCC battled back in sets two and three but eventually fell in both of them 22-25.  

In a loser out match, the Trojans faced Pierce College in the next round who lost to Columbia Basin earlier in the day.  Everett lost in the first set 27-25, but rallied back to take set two 25-23.  Set three was another barn burner where neither team held more than a 3 point lead.  Again Everett came out on top 26-24, heading into the fourth set.  Here, the Trojans used a 10 point run to create the seperation needed to steal all the momentum and cruise to a 25-10 win.  Sophomore leader Erin Ingram had 15 kills, her highest total since back on September 3rd when she had 16 in the win over Spokane.  Denna Gibb flew around defensively with 13 digs, and freshman Malia Shepherd did it all recording 10 digs, 9 kills, and 6 service aces.  In total the team had 20 service aces, a season record.  

On Sunday morning Linn Benton played Columbia Basin, the winner advancing to the Elite 8 as the #1 seed out of the South Region. The loser would drop down to face EvCC in a loser out match.  CBC did not look comfortable the entire match, and Linn Benton flexed their muscles crusing to an easy 3-0 match win. 

The final match of the regional round would decide who would advance as the #2 seed out of the south regional round to the Elite 8. 

Everett looked strong in the opening set and stunned CBC 27-25 after trailing 22-24.  But the Hawks had been a strong team all season as their record would indicate and took control in the final three sets winning 15-25, 14-25 and 14-25.  Despite the loss freshman Denna Gibb had her best defensive game of the season posting a season high 25 digs.  

While the Trojans had their sites set on a larger prize heading into the weekend, it was no doubt a turnaround year for the program.  Some of the season highlights include:

• Malia Shepherd was named First Team All North Region and finished with the 3rd highest EvCC single season kills per set number with 3.3, the 2nd highest EvCC single season points per set mark with 4.1, and set the new highest EvCC all time single season record for the most service aces per set at 0.69. 
• Jayda Grosboll was named to the North Region Sophomore All Star Team and finished with the 2nd highest EvCC single season assists per set number with 7.57, and the 2nd highest career average with 6.97 assists per set
• Sarah Campfield was named to the North Region Sophomore All Star Team, named North Region Honorable Mention and finished the season averaging 0.84 blocks per set, not quite surpassing last year's all time single season EvCC record of 0.87 blocks per set.  She holds the career record with 0.86
• Erin Ingram was named to the North Region Sophomore All Star Team, named Second Team All North Region and posted a career 558 kills, 440 digs, and 83 service aces
• As a team the Trojans had the second highest team average for points per set with 13.6, and the most service aces per set of any EvCC volleyball team with 2.59
• Whitney Williams was named North Region Coach of the Year