ASHLAND, Ore. – The Warriors came back strong after their loss on Friday night with two wins in tight matches on Saturday. LCSC mounted a comeback in each contest, defeating William Jessup in four (22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 27-25) after dropping the first set, then rallying from 0-2 to take down Oregon Tech in five sets (22-25, 26-28, 25-15, 26-24, 17-15).

Rachel Gregg dominated the court in both games.  The senior logged 30 total kills with 15 in each game. Setter Lauren West notched a double-double in the both wins with 46 assists and 10 digs in game one, and 53 assists and 10 digs in game two.

"We started slow against William Jessup but stuck to what we knew and didn't back down. The truer we can stay to ourselves, the better," head coach Shaun Pohlman said. "I hope that today shows the team where we need to be and how it can pay off in the end."

LCSC defeats William Jessup 3-1 (22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 27-25)

 In a battle of the Warriors, Lewis-Clark State College emerged victorious over William Jessup by a final of 3-1.  After they dropped the first set of the contest, LCSC battled back to rattle of three-straight victories to take the match. Three LCSC Warriors had double-digit kills, led by Gregg with 15. 

The first set was a back-and-forth battle until William Jessup went on a three-point run to take a 12-8 lead. They kept a small cushion the rest of the set en route to a 25-22 victory.

The tug-of-war continued into the second set as the lead continued to change hands. After WJU jumped in front to a 13-11 lead, LCSC retaliated with four unanswered points to gain a 15-13 advantage, aided by a pair of kills from Mikayla Sellers-Wiebe. Back-to-back service aces from West gave Lewis-Clark a 22-21 lead late in the set, and kills from Gregg and Gionni Brown extended the advantage to set point at 24-21. Gregg ended the set with a kill from West to even the match at one set apiece.

The Warriors of LCSC took control of the contest in the third set after they took a 4-3 lead and never looked back. Gregg stayed hot and slammed down back-to-back kills to push the advantage to 9-6 before Hayley Alvarez and West each contributed to the offensive barrage to make it 12-7. The largest lead of the set came via an Alvarez service ace, giving LCSC a 22-16 cushion. As was the theme throughout the match, Gregg ended the set with a kill to push the score to 25-19 and give Lewis-Clark a 2-1 lead in the contest.

The Warriors needed extra time to decide set four, and the closest set of the match came down to a 27-25 final score in favor of LCSC. Service aces from Hannah Pond and West gave Lewis-Clark an early lead before errors by William Jessup gave LCSC a 15-13 lead. WJU battled back to cut the lead to one before a big swing from Aubrey King brought momentum back to Lewis-Clark. Three-straight WJU points knotted the set at 22-22 but an ace from Madeleine Taylor brought the lead back to two at 24-22. William Jessup fought off two set points to tie things up at 25 apiece before a kill from Alexa Van Vleet and a WJU error sealed the 27-25 win for Lewis-Clark.

Gregg reached double-digit kills for the second-straight game, this time tallying 15. King finished the game closely behind her with 13, and Sellers-Wiebe sent down 10 kills. West had a big game, notching a double-double with 46 assists and 10 digs. Brown led the team in digs with 21 and Jordan Phelan logged 15.

LCSC defeats Oregon Tech 3-2 (22-25, 26-28, 25-15, 26-24, 17-15)

The fire sparked in the Warriors continued to burn heading into their second game of the day.  Facing Oregon Tech, LCSC jumped out to a 7-4 lead over the Owls with kills from King and Sellers-Wiebe, and a kill from Alvarez. An 8-1 run by Oregon Tech had the Warriors down 12-8 before a kill from Gregg got LCSC back in the game. Kills from Brown and Van Vleet, paired with an ace from West gave LCSC four-straight points to take a 14-13 lead and Force an Owl timeout.  Despite a pair of kills from Sydney Lawrence to keep the Warriors in the game late in the set, the Owls took set one 25-22.

Back-to-back kills from Sellers-Wiebe gave the Warriors a 4-2 lead in the second set and LCSC continued to build from there. Three-consecutive Oregon Tech errors gave the Warriors a four-point advantage at 7-3 before Sellers-Wiebe went on a three-point tear with a kill and two service aces to extend that lead to 10-4. Leading 13-6, LCSC put together an acrobatic rally that was capped off by a kill from Brooke Kaawa. In a big momentum change, the Owls rattled off 14 unanswered points to take a commanding 20-14 lead. Kaawa snapped the scoring streak with a kill to get the Warriors back in the mix and four-straight kills from King, Lawrence and Seller-Wiebe knotted the set at 22-22.  The Owls won the tug-of-war to take the second set 28-26.

LCSC opened the third set in a loud way when they went on a 7-2 run. Kaawa provided two service aces while Gregg and Olivia Jarvis each chipped in a pair of kills to stretch the lead to 11-5.  A four-point Owl run sent the Warriors into a timeout to regroup, and they came out firing with kills from Kaawa and King to push their lead to six at 16-10. Brown was all over the court, making impressive digs look easy, which gave Gregg and King the opportunity to add to the advantage for LCSC. West dished assists left and right to the pair as they each collected two kills to bring the score to 21-14. The Warrior offense continued to power through the set, eventually taking it 25-15 and bring the match score to 2-1 in favor of Oregon Tech.

The Warriors were not done yet. Lawrence got the ball rolling with a pair of kills to put LCSC on the board in the fourth set before Gregg threw down two more to stretch the advantage to 6-3. LCSC strung together three-straight including a kill from Kaawa and an ace from Brown. Lawrence provided four-consecutive Warrior points to add to her night and give the team a 22-21 lead. The teams traded points until 24-24 when back-to-back kills from Jarvis and Alvarez ended the set and forced a decisive fifth.

The fifth set picked up right where the fourth at left off, in a battle for the lead. Gregg dialed in for three kills in the first six Warrior points. A Warrior service error gave the Owls an 8-7 advantage as the two teams switched sides. Oregon Tech took an 11-7 lead out of the break, but three kills from Lawrence and a pair of Owl errors brought LCSC right back into it, cutting the deficit to one at 13-12. Knotted at 15-15, Gregg and Alvarez went back-to-back to give the Warriors a huge comeback win at 17-15 in the final set.

For the second-straight game, Gregg logged 15 kills and King and Lawrence followed with 14 each. Kaawa joined the double-digit club with 12 kills. West dished out 53 assists to go with 10 digs for her second double-double of the day. Brown led the defense with 29 digs.
With the pair of wins, the Warriors improve to 4-2 on the young season. They conclude the Southern Oregon Raiders Tournament on Sunday. They face Northwest Christian at 11 a.m. and Simpson at 1 p.m.