The Evergreen State College volleyball team has had a rough start to the 2009 season.
The Geoducks and its 10-member roster is off to a 1-14 start overall and 1-6 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. TESC defeated Northwest Christian at home on Sept. 11, 3-1. Evergreen has won six games this season and fell in 43. Evergreen State has lost five straight since its lone victory. TESC was picked to finish last in the conference in the coaches preseason poll.
Chantal Petkus leads Evergreen in 2009. The sophomore ranks in the top 10 in digs with 3.6 per game. Petkus has 175 digs in 49 games this season which is eighth in the CCC. Jazzmin Garcia's 1.96 kills per game leads the team. The freshman had a career high 15 kills against Walla Walla University on Sept. 3. Megan De La Rosa has a team-high 246 assists. The junior transfer from Spokane Falls Community College had 31 assists in the win over Northwest Christian.
The Geoducks are last in six of the seven main statistical categories in the conference. TESC's 1.14 blocks per game average is eighth in the CCC.
The Mountaineers swept Evergreen State in both matches last season when the Geoducks ended 3-23 overall and 2-18 in conference play. Eastern won the first contest in Olympia on Sept. 27, 2008. EOU's Jessica Lea had a match-high 12 kills and a team-high 15 assists. Graduated senior Katie Huston had a match-high 26 assists for the Geoducks. TESC's graduated senior Annie Forman had a match-high 12 digs.
Eastern eased to a 3-0 sweep on Halloween last year in La Grande. The Geoducks played seven players in a match that featured 46 EOU digs, 40 kills and 36 assists by the Mountaineers. Grace Deboodt had 15 kills for Eastern Oregon and 11 digs. Lea had a match-high 18 assists. Only three current Geoducks played in that match last season.
The Evergreen State has only one senior on its roster. The Geoducks have five upperclassmen and four freshmen on the current roster. Head coach Clay Blackwood is 5-55 at Evergreen in three seasons. TESC is 51-159 all-time in volleyball. Evergreen's best season came in 2003 when the Geoducks went 14-13 and 10-8 in conference play.
Eastern Oregon's Deboodt still leads the league in kills per game (3.4) and Lea is third in the CCC in hitting percentage (.310). This weekend's two home contests will mark the halfway point of the conference schedule for the Mountaineers. EOU currently sits in fourth place in the conference standings. The top four teams move to postseason play.
