SPOKANE, Wash. – The Lewis-Clark State College volleyball team entered the third set against Whitworth University on Wednesday night having lost six straight matches and 11 consecutive sets, but seniors Kennadie Clute and Stephanie Ovitz powered the Warriors to a 3-2 match victory.
 
After dropping the first two sets 16-25 and 22-25, the Warriors won the final three, 25-23, 25-23 and 17-15 to improve to 7-10 on the season and even the season series with the Pirates. Whitworth falls to 13-5 on the year.
 
"Coming into the match we said when we played them the first time our season changed and its time to change it back," said Warriors Head Coach LaToya Harris-Alexander. "When we won the third set we really relaxed and you could see the confidence come back. We really started to flow in the last two sets and we believe we can still make this a successful season."
 
A lot of the success tonight came from the Spokane native, Clute, who finished one kill shy of a career-high with 27 while hitting .449, her fourth-best mark as a Warrior. She also added 22 digs, four blocks and two aces. Ovitz was just as good, tallying 15 kills to go with a career-high 25 digs. She also added three blocks and a team-high four aces.
 
"I told Kennadie and Stephanie to not focus so much on being a captain, but to free their minds and just play and they did," said Harris-Alexander. "When those two play the way they did tonight we will be tough to beat."
 
In the opening set, the Warriors got off to a fast start with a kill from Ovitz and an ace by Aly Sauer before adding kills from Clute and Alexa Van Vleet for a 5-2 lead. Six straight points, including three Warrior errors, put the Pirates in front, a lead they didn't relinquish. LCSC got close several times, but just couldn't pull even with the home team in a 25-17 loss.
 
After several early runs by Whitworth to start set two LCSC found themselves down four points. Once again, the Warriors were able to get close on several occasions but failed to tie the set in a 25-22 setback.
 
The third set was a back-and-forth battle that featured nine ties with the Warriors eventually coming out on top. LCSC held three-point leads of 7-4 and 12-9, but each time Whitworth used 3-0 runs to tie the set. A 7-2 run late in the game saw the Pirates take a 20-16 lead. That's when Ovitz and Clute took over as the duo combined to score five of the final eight LC points for a 25-23 win.
 
LCSC used a 10-3 run to jump out to an 11-6 lead in set four, which included a plethora of Whitworth errors. A 6-0 burst by the Pirates gave the home team the lead, but LCSC responded with a 5-0 run for a 16-12 margin. LCSC was able to stretch the lead to 20-14, but a late three-point run by WU made it close before a Pirate attack error evened the match at 2-2.
 
Whitworth scored five of the first seven points in the fifth set, but a Pirate service error followed by an Ovitz ace and kills from Clute and Katie Barton put LC in front. The teams proceeded to trade side-outs for the majority of the match that featured 11 ties. The Warriors were finally able to put two points together, getting kills from Van Vleet and Aly Sauer to seal the victory.
 
As a team, LCSC tallied 61 kills, 91 digs, 10 total blocks and nine aces. The Warriors did hit just .132, but didn't hurt themselves when it counted.
 
"This match showed the true character of this team," said Harris-Alexander. "We have players playing positions they haven't played all year, but everyone focused on their role and played very well. The win speaks volumes about their unselfishness and their commitment to this team and what we are trying to accomplish."
 
The Warriors wrap up their three-game road trip with a pair of conference matches Oct. 21-22. LCSC travels to Helena, Mont. on Friday to face No. 17 Carroll College before heading to Butte, Mont. on Saturday for a matchup with Montana Tech. The Warriors final regular season home contest will be Thursday, Oct. 27 against Montana-Western.