DILLON, Montana – The Lewis-Clark State volleyball team played from behind to earn its second Frontier Conference win of the season against the Montana Western Bulldogs. After dropping the first set, the Warriors battled back to take the match 3-1 (17-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-22).
"It's hard to win on the road," coach Shaun Pohlman said. "I feel like we combatted the things that were causing us ailments, which is a good sign for a better future. I am really happy with our coaching staff and how we came together tonight to make the appropriate lineup. There were some key lineup changes that were absolutely critical and crucial to the success tonight."
After the Bulldogs struck first, the Warriors answered back with kills by Sydney Lawrence and Tori Edwards to take a 2-1 lead. Lawrence added her second kill of the match to keep LC State in front 3-2. Two service errors aided the Warriors, keeping them in the lead by a point. The Bulldogs rallied to take a 15-12 lead and force an LC timeout. UMW took control and took the set 25-17.
A service error by UMW gave LC the early lead in set two. A service ace by Josilyn Remick and two more errors by the Bulldogs pushed the lead to 4-0. After a UMW point, LC responded with three-straight points on kills by Edwards and Brooke Kaawa, and an ace by Kenzie Dean to bring the score to 7-1. The Bulldogs surged back to even the set 9-9 on an 8-2 run, but a pair of kills by Channa Hart and one by Jordan Hunter put the Warriors back in the lead 12-9. Carli Berntson added a kill to the score sheet to add to the Warrior surge, and an ace by Remick pushed the advantage to 17-12. A kill by Kaawa brought the score to set point at 24-16, and a service error ended the set at 25-17 to even the match 1-1.
Montana Western jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead in the third set and grew their advantage to 7-4 before back-to-back aces by Jess Ruffing got the Warriors back in the game. Two Bulldog errors gave LC a 9-8 lead, and a pair of kills by Berntson grew the lead to 11-9. A kill by Lawrence was followed by three-straight UMW errors to make it 17-12. The Warriors kept a slim lead over UMW for the rest of the set as back-to-back kills by Kaawa and Hart brought the score to 23-21. Morgan Ness added a kill to make it set point, and an error by the Bulldogs gave LC the 25-21 set win.
The Warriors began the fourth with a pair of points, but UMW answered with three to take a 3-2 lead. The Bulldogs held their lead and stretched it to 13-9 until the Warriors rallied for three-straight on two errors and a kill by Ness to cut the deficit to one at 13-12. Western widened the gap back to three at 18-15, but LC State battled back. A kill by Edwards cut the UMW lead to 20-19, and Kaawa evened the set 20-20. Ness put the Warriors in front at 22-21 and Edwards kept them there at 23-22. Ness ended the set and the match with a kill on an assist from Remick at 25-22.
Edwards finished the match one kill shy of her career-best with 16 while hitting .281. Kaawa tallied nine kills. Remick dished out 20 assists with Ruffing close behind at 18, and Gionni Brown led the Warriors with 16 digs.
The Warriors return home on Friday to face Carroll College at 7 p.m. in the Activity Center.
