LEWISTON, Idaho – The Lewis-Clark State volleyball team opened its final Frontier Conference season with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-15) sweep of the Montana State-Northern Skylights. Tori Edwards led the Warriors with 10 kills and an impressive .529 attack percentage. She had just one error on 17 swings.
"I think Jerry (Wagner) has done a great job with Northern's program," coach Shaun Pohlman said. "They are definitely better this year, and they made us have to earn it. That's a good thing because we don't want to go into Frontier Conference play thinking everything is going to be handed to us. That would be a detriment to us for sure."
The Warriors opened with three-straight to take a 3-0 lead early in the set. The Skylights fought back to tie the set 3-3 before an error, a kill by Denise Elder and a service ace by Gionni Brown put LC State back in front 6-3. Back-to-back kills by Elder grew the lead to 8-4. MSUN kept it close, staying within striking distance of LC State through the set. A three-point run by the Warriors, aided by a kill form Edwards, stretched the lead to 15-11, and kills by Brooke Kaawa and Elder made it 18-13. Back-to-back kills by Elder and Lawrence gave LC a 21-17 edge over the Skylights, and a pair of kills by Jordan Hunter and Edwards pushed the score to set point. A kill by Edwards sealed the set one win at 25-21.
LC State jumped in front in the second set on an MSUN error, but the Skylights quickly evened the score. Trailing 8-7, the Warriors strung together four-straight with kills by Kaawa and Carli Berntson to take an 11-8 lead. MSUN quickly bounced back to retire the set at 13-13. A big swing by Kaawa put the Warriors back in front 16-15, but MSUN answered back to take a 19-16 advantage. Two Skylight errors and a kill by Hunter evened things up 20-20. Three-straight kills by Elder, Hunter and Bertnson continued the seven-point rally to push the advantage to 24-20. The Warriors completed the comeback with a kill by Hunter for another 25-21 set victory.
The Skylights jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the third set, but an MSUN error and back-to-back aces by Brown put LC State in front 4-3. A kill by Josye Miller fed the four-point run to make it 5-3. The Warriors built the lead to 16-8 with a seven-point run aided by kills from Berntson, Lawrence and Edwards. Back-to-back aces by Brown made it 20-11. A service error by MSUN ended the match with a 25-15 set win.
Edwards led the Warriors with 10 kills and a .529 attack percentage. Elder chipped in seven kills and Hunter and Lawrence each had six. Josilyn Remick dished out a team-high 20 assists and Brown tallied 11 digs.
Elissa Lind led MSUN with eight kills on the night. Hailey Warren had 17 assists and Lind added 13 digs.
The Warriors host No. 16 Providence on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Activity Center.
