COLLEGE PLACE, Wash. – The Lewis-Clark State volleyball team got the 2019 season off to a hot start on Wednesday with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-11, 25-16) win over the Walla Walla University Wolves. Every Warrior got in the game to contribute to the victory.

"I think that there was some great opportunities for us to respond," coach Shaun Pohlman said. "I was looking to see if there would be moments where we would need to respond and what we would do."

Though the Wolves struck first, the Warriors quickly bounced back. Tori Edwards collected the first point of 2019 for LC with a kill to tie the opening set 1-1. Multiple streaks gave LC a firm lead early in the set. Four-straight points, capped by kills from Brooke Kaawa and Carli Berntson, put the Warriors up 7-4 and two strings of three-straight pushed LC ahead 12-6. The Wolves crept back within two, but the Warriors took advantage of Walla Walla errors to storm back and take the set 25-16 on a block by Sydney Lawrence and Berntson.

The Warriors took a 7-5 lead in the second set, with four of the seven points coming off of Walla Walla errors. Jess Ruffing contributed back-to-back points by sneaking a ball over the net and then serving an ace to put LC up 9-6. A kill by Kaawa put the Warriors up 11-6 to force a WWU timeout. Back-to-back service aces from Gionni Brown put LC in front by a commanding 16-8 and Lawrence made it four points in a row with a kill from Ruffing. Morgan Ness, Brown and Edwards all added to the eight-point run that put the Warriors ahead 20-8. Ness and Ruffing went back-to-back to seal the second-set win (25-11) for LC.

Walla Walla jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the third frame before a kill from Josye Miller swung the momentum back in favor of LC. After a kill from Jordan Hunter, the Wolves committed four-straight attack errors to put the Warriors in front 10-7. A run by Walla Walla brought the score to 10-9, Hunter and Denise Elder sent down two-straight kills to grow the lead back to 12-9.

The Wolves fought back to a 14-14 tie, but the Warriors hit the gas to close out the match. A kill by Channa Hart sparked an eight-run rally in which she had four kills. Hunter and Berntson also added kills in the run as Josilyn Remick had an ace. LC closed out the match with a 25-16 win.

Freshman Hart led the Warriors with six kills in the contest, while Edwards had five. Four different Warriors had four kills each.

"I was hoping we would get the opportunity to play everyone to get them all that 'feet wet' feeling," Pohlman said. "Today pointed out what we need to work on over the next week, It is specific stuff with small tweaks. Today gave us great feedback."

The Warriors head to Ashland, Oregon next week to take part in the Southern Oregon Tournament. They will play five matches against some of the nation's top teams beginning with William Jessup (Calif.) on Aug. 22 at 6 p.m.