Bellevue College volleyball hosted Skagit Valley in a battle for first place between the two premier teams in the North Region, with the visiting Cardinals earning the thrilling win in five sets. The highly anticipated match pitted the fourth and sixth ranked teams in the NWAC with Skagit Valley coming in with an 8-0 league record (24-3 overall) and Bellevue at 6-1 (21-5 overall).
Set one was everything fans expected in a narrow 25-23 Bellevue win. The jitters were evident on both sides as seven errors were made within the first 14 points of the match. The ‘dogs jumped out early 12-4 in front of a strong home fan base but Skagit Valley’s Madisyn Butenschoen’s strong serves with three aces brought the Cardinals back to a 13-13 tie. The tightness returned for Skagit Valley as three errors down the stretch gave BC the win. In set one, Skagit Valley hit -.179 with Bellevue hitting at .000 in a rough first set for both teams.
Skagit Valley bounced back taking set two 25-22 as Butenschoen caused damage again but this time with two kills to extend a Cardinal 22-21 lead to 24-21.
Bellevue took set three in commanding fashion 25-17; the first set of the night that provided either team with breathing room. Jocie Snyder and Kawehi Sarona had deep serve runs early on to give Bellevue 9-2 and 14-4 leads as the ‘dogs cruised.
In set four, Skagit Valley answered with an identical score win from set two, 25-22. The Bulldogs committed a dismal 10 errors in the set hitting .028 to allow Skagit Valley to tie the match at 2-2.
Going to 15 in set five, Skagit’s offense earned the win instead of relying on errors as the Cards pushed through four consecutive swings to build an early 8-3 lead that BC could not come back from.
For the night, the ‘dogs committed an uncharacteristic 36 swing errors, keeping Skagit Valley in the match until the very end. Freshman opposite Karisa Martin had a second consecutive strong match with 13 kills hitting .296. Sophomore middle blocker Annie Goetze hit .353 with eight kills. Jocie Snyder had 17 digs and four aces at the serve line for the Bulldogs.
Bellevue travels to Shoreline next Wed. Oct. 20 for a 7 p.m. first serve.
Last Updated October 25, 2024
