ASHLAND, Oregon – The Lewis-Clark State volleyball wrapped up the 2019 Raider Invitational in Ashland on Saturday with losses to Oregon Tech (25-20, 25-22, 22-25, 25-20) and No. 6 Southern Oregon (24-26, 28-26, 24-26, 27-25, 15-12). The Warriors took one of the nation's top teams to five sets, but were unable to come away with a victory.
"If you look at the whole weekend, we went multiple sets with nationally ranked programs and took two of them to five," coach Shaun Pohlman said. "This is all part of the process of getting to where we want to go."
GAME ONE: Oregon Tech defeated LCSC 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 22-25, 25-20)
The Owls jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Tori Edwards got the Warrior offenses going with a kill. Points were traded back-and-forth until OIT broke away to take a 15-11 lead. A service ace from Jordan Phelan brought LC back within three at 16-13, but the Owls quickly regained momentum to stretch their lead to 23-17. Kills from Brooke Kaawa and Jordan Hunter pulled LC within three at 23-20 to force an OIT timeout, but the Owls regrouped and took the set 25-20.
Kaawa put the Warriors in front 2-1 with a pair of kills to start the second set. Kaawa's second kill sparked a six-point run that included kills by Jess Ruffing and Kaawa, and an ace from Gionni Brown to give LC a 7-1 lead. OIT answered with three of their own before a kill by Kaawa got LC back on track. Kaawa and Edards kept the kills coming to keep the Warriors in front 13-9, but OIT surged back to tie things up 14-14. The Owls took a 17-15 lead before an error and a Ruffing ace tied things once again at 17-17. The teams traded points until OIT began to pull away at 23-20. Sydney Lawrence tallied a kill to make it 23-21. A kill by Kaawa held off a set point, but the Owls took the set 25-22.
A Kaawa kill and a service ace from Ruffing helped the Warriors out to a 3-0 lead to open set three. Kaawa produced two more kills to grow the lead to 5-3, and a block by Morgan Ness and Lawrence added one more. A kill from Ness added to the four-point run to give LC an 8-3 advantage, and a pair from Ness pushed the lead to 11-5. Kaawa and Ruffing went back-to-back to put the Warriors in front by a commanding 15-6 and forced an OIT timeout. Elyse Booker delivered a service ace coming out of the timeout and the Warriors kept lengthening their lead. The Owls struck for seven-straight to cut the LC lead to 18-14, before Hunter snapped the skid with a kill from Ruffing. The Owls erased the lead the Warriors had built when they pulled within one at 21-20. Lawrence sent down a kill to push the advantage back to two at 22-20, but the Owls responded to tie the set 22-22. Lawrence and Ruffing went back-to-back to put the Warriors back in front at 24-22, and Hunter sealed the win with a kill at 25-22.
Denise Elder and Edwards both answered OIT points in the fourth set to tie things up 2-2 before Kaawa put the Warriors up 3-2. Oregon Tech took the lead with five unanswered to go up 7-3 and force an LC timeout. OIT stretched their lead to 11-6. The Warriors put together three points on an Edwards kill, Booker ace and an OIT error to cut the deficit to two at 15-13. A block by Kaawa and Lawrence started a five-point rally, aided by two aces from Phelan and a kill from Kaawa, to cut the OIT lead to 19-18. The Owls bounced back to take the set 25-20.
Kaawa finished the match with a career-high 18 kills. She notched her second-straight double-double with 14 digs. Edwards tallied 11 kills and Ruffing dealt an impressive 48 assists. Brown led the Warriors with 23 digs, following by Hannah Pond with 18.
GAME TWO: No. 6 Southern Oregon defeats LCSC 3-2 (24-26, 28-26, 24-26, 27-25, 15-12)
Ness got the scoring started for the Warriors in match two, and kills from Edwards gave LC a 4-2 advantage. SOU fought back to a 7-6 lead, and a back-and-forth ensued. Kaawa provided three kills and Pond added an ace to break the tying pattern and put LC up 17-14 and force a timeout. Ruffing sent down a kill from Ness to keep the lead at three points at 19-16. Carli Bernston tallied a kill and Josilyn Remick followed with an ace to make it 21-17. The Raiders tied things up 22-22, but a pair of kills by Kaawa fought off two set points to tie the score 24-24. An ace from Brown put LC ahead 25-24 and Edwards pushed LC to a first set victory with a kill from Brown.
Kaawa stayed hot with the first two Warrior kills of the second set to put LC up 2-1. Brown delivered a service ace to make 3-2, and kills by Edwards and Kaawa kept the Warriors in front 6-4. Ness delivered a pair of kills, followed by a pair by Edwards, to make it 12-9. Brown tallied back-to-back service aces and Remick dished an assist for a Kaawa kill to increase the advantage to 16-9. Phelan and Ness collected kills to grow the lead to 19-14 before two SOU errors helped increase that to 21-16. A kill by Channa Hart brought the score to set point at 24-22, but the Raiders fought back to a 25-25 tie. SOU took set two 28-26.
After the Raiders jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third set, LC responded with kills from Lawrence and Edwards, and a block by the pair to cut the deficit to 5-3. The Warriors managed to stay within one of SOU throughout the match until the Raiders began to pull away again at 19-15. Three-straight SOU errors cut the deficit back to one at 19-18. Ness delivered two kills before a block by Lawrence and Ness kept LC within one. An error by SOU tied things up 23-23. Kills by Lawrence and Edwards pushed the set to set point in favor of LC at 25-24, and a perfectly placed service ace from Remick gave the Warriors a 2-1 lead in the match.
Lawrence delivered the first punch of the fourth to put LC up 1-0, but the Raiders answered back with two of their own. Lawrence tallied the equalizer to make it 2-2. SOU took a 4-3 lead. Three SOU errors brought LC within one at 11-10, but they quickly grew their lead back out to 15-11. LC exploded for a five-point run with kills from Berntson and three-straight blocks with help from Ness, Hart and Berntson to take a 16-15 lead. After SOU responded to take an 18-17 lead, LC answered with kills from Berntson and Ness, and an ace from Kenzie Dean to give the Warriors a 20-18 advantage. The Warriors rallied for three points on kills from Lawrence and Ness, and an ace from Remick, to pull ahead 23-19. The Raiders fought off match point to tie the set 24-24, and they went on to take the set 27-25.
Lawrence and Ness gave LC a 2-0 lead to open the final set, and Edwards grew the advantage to 3-2 with a kill from Remick. SOU came back to take an 8-6 lead as the teams switched sides. A kill from Ness and an ace from Remick knotted things up 9-9, but SOU could not be stopped as they went on to take the set 15-12.
Ness led the Warriors with 17 kills in the match. Kaawa and Edwards each had 14. Remick dished out 32 assists to go with Ruffing's 23, and Pond led LC with 15 digs. Ruffing added 11 digs to her game to notch a double-double.
"We are just trying to get into the flow of things, that's what it comes down to," Pohlman said. "We are playing in a competitive, nationally ranked match and are going overtime in all but one set, and we are young. We are still trying to figure everything out with eight newcomers and young players and setting system so this was a huge step in the right direction. While the outcome isn't what we wanted, we can't hang our heads on this one."
The Warriors return home on Friday to host the Red Lion Classic. They open their 2019 home season against Warner Pacific at 1 p.m. in the Activity Center.
