The Clark College volleyball team punched its ticket to the Northwest Athletic Conference tournament by beating Clackamas 3-1 in a play-in game on Saturday at the O’Connell Sports Center.
Scores were 25-17, 22-25, 25-20, 25-20.
Clark (18-19 overall) and Clackamas (22-18) tied for the fourth and final postseason berth from the NWAC South at 8-6 and had split their two matches this season, thus creating the need for the play-in match.
Freshman Laurel Davidson had 17 kills and 17 digs for the Penguins, and freshman Gillian Garcia had 12 kills.
Sophomore Megan Hess, a Prairie High grad, had 32 assists and 17 digs, sophomore Mary Schorn had 30 digs, freshman Kalie Anderson had 20 digs, and freshman Brooke Mayberry had 21 assists.
Clark will open the NWAC Tournament against NWAC No. 1-ranked Spokane (35-0) at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center.
The 16-team, double-elimination tournament runs through Nov. 18 and matches will be streamed live at www.nwacsports.org.
Cross country
Clark freshman Micah Goff, a Union High grad, was the top runner for the Penguins on Saturday at the NWAC Championships.
Goff covered the 8,000-meter course at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey in 27 minutes, 28 seconds to place 17th overall out of 72 competitors.
Andy Muha of Lane won in 25:28 as the Titans came away with the team title by two points over Spokane. Clark was seventh.
Also scoring for Clark were Aaron Avery in 26th (28:08), Kyle Bear in 37th (28:52), Calvin DuBois in 40th (29:05), and Micah Turner in 60th (31:04). Patrick Carrier in 66th (32:04) was Clark’s sixth runner.
In the women’s race, Nicky Figueras was the Penguins’ top placer. She came in 20th out of 68 on the 5K course in 21:10.6).
Elsa Temme was 35th (22:22.7), and Carmella DeSean was 42nd (23:00.4).
Micaela Kostecka of Spokane won the race in 18:24.80 and Spokane won the team title as well with 24 points, doubling up second place Lane’s total. Clark did not have enough runners for a team score.
Women’s soccer
Clark makes its first appearance in the NWAC championship match, taking on Peninsula at 1:30 p.m. today at Starfire Stadium in Tukwila.
The Penguins (14-1-1) have outscored opponents 57-1 since South Region play began and have posted 13 shutouts this season.
Peninsula (18-2-1), runner-up last year and making the program’s seventh final in the last eight seasons, has won 12 matches in a row.
The match will be streamed live at www.nwacsports.org.
