SPOKANE, Wash. – Lewis-Clark State College bumped into another top 20 team in its first tournament of the season in No. 15 Eastern Oregon State with the result a 3-1 loss (25-23, 19-25, 7-25, 22-25) – but a great opportunity for first-year coach Shaun Pohlman and the players to assess their progress.
 
The Warriors (2-1) opened the day with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-19) sweep of Multnomah University. Both matches were at Spokane Falls Community College.
 
"The fact that we competed," Pohlman said, "that's a positive. I'm proud we got a chance to see our system worked.
 
"We're learning how to apply the system that we practice into real live matches."
 
While Pohlman was pleased with the progress, he noted there were times when the nuances of the system combined with the speed of live action put the Warriors on their heels.
 
"We were getting frazzled a little," he said of the four-set match with Eastern Oregon. "They overthink a little bit and get frazzled."
 
After dispatching Multnomah 25-21, 25-20, 25-19, the Warriors battled to a 25-23 victory in the first set against Eastern Oregon. LC started strong in the second then match turned into a point-for-point tussle until Eastern Oregon took control with three kills along with two attack errors to win 25-19. That seemed to take the wind out of the Warriors' sails as EOU won decisively, 25-7, in the third.
 
The fourth set mirrored the first two but without the steadiness they needed to force a fifth set.
 
"It's that consistency in understanding our system," Pohlman said.
 
Against Multnomah, seniors Rachel Gregg and Aubrey King paced the attack with Gregg drilling 14 kills and King 11. Jordan Phelan, another senior, was the leader with nine digs and Lauren West, also a senior, had 29 assists.
 
Against Eastern Oregon, Gregg had a team-best 16 kills with King adding 11. Again, West directed the offense with another 29 assists.