GREAT FALLS, Mont. – It wasn't the season they had in mind, but the Lewis-Clark State College volleyball team knows they have the talent to make a deep run this postseason which begins where the regular season ended, inside the McLaughlin Center Gym on the campus of the University of Great Falls.
 
Tomorrow the Warriors begin their quest for a sixth conference championship when they square off with second-seeded Montana Tech. LCSC enters the contest as a seven seed and finished the regular season 8-14 overall and 2-9 in the conference. The Orediggers enter the contest ranked 25th in the NAIA and are 20-8 with an 8-4 conference mark.
 
"We are really focusing on the face that what happened in the regular season doesn't matter anymore," said Warriors Head Coach LaToya Harris-Alexander. "It's a new season and we have prepared the best we can for this tournament. We have nothing to lose."
 
The Warriors enter the match having lost 10-of-12 including their last two, but split with the Orediggers in the regular season with each team defending their home courts with 3-0 wins. The Warriors finished the regular season third in the Frontier in hitting percentage (.205), kills per set (12.7) and assister per set (11.7) while ranking fourth in blocks per set (2.0).
 
"We are going to have to hit well and play solid at the net," said Harris-Alexander. "In the first matchup we weren't able to slow down their middle [Ballie Cortner], but we were still able to win. In the second match we slowed her down, but their other middle [Jordan Danz] played well and we lost. We have to play the way we know we can to win."
 
A pair of seniors, Kennadie Clute and Stephanie Ovitz, powers the Warriors' offense. Clute is second in the conference with 3.7 kills per set and fourth with 312 total kills while Ovitz is fourth in attack percentage (.281).
 
It's a tale of two teams headed in opposite directions as the Butte, Montana program has won 11-of-12 matches, which includes a 3-0 sweep of the Warriors on Oct. 22. The Orediggers have won their last three matches and finished the regular season leading the conference in hitting percentage (.239), total aces (186) and aces per set (1.8). Tech also ranks second in kills (1373), kills per set (13.1), assists (1254) and assists per set (11.9).
 
Cortner leads the Orediggers at the net as she hit a conference best .370 to go with 112 total blocks while setter Makenzie Bauck tallied a conference best 1,098 assists.
 
"This is the most important match of the season and we know we have to come out and compete hard," said Harris-Alexander. "This is the most competitive and evenly matched I've ever seen this conference. Every match is going to be a fight, but I know we have what it takes to win."
 
The Warriors and Orediggers are the second match of the day with first serve slated for 4 p.m. pacific time on Friday, Nov. 11. If LCSC wins, the Warriors face top-seeded and 18th-ranked Carroll College on Saturday at 10 a.m. with the winner advancing to the championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday night.
 
The Argonauts of Great Falls are the fourth seed and host MSU-Northern to start the tournament at 1 p.m. on Friday. Third-seeded Rocky Mountain College faces sixth seed Montana Western at 6 p.m. to cap off day one.
 
Fans can purchase a full tournament pass for $25 with day passes also available for $15. Kids 10 and under get in free while souvenir programs are $3. Live stats for the tournament are here, with live video available here.