Women's Volleyball | 02.18.2021
LEWISTON, Idaho – Four hundred sixty-two. That is the number of days since the Lewis-Clark State Warrior Volleyball team last took the court against an opponent. The last time this happened, for any of the members on the 2021 spring squad, was before they even started the sport – many of them were just eight years old, and for all of them it was more than a decade ago.
"It's hard to fathom," third-year head coach
Shaun Pohlman said. "College athletes have lived longer with their sport as part of their identity than without. This is their job - their livelihoods while in college, and it isn't like they can just go find it somewhere else. For more than a year, they have had to wait for the opportunity to get out there and compete and represent their school. We are grateful to the efforts of our administration and support staff here at LC for the opportunity to host the matches this weekend."
Three Oregon-based teams will trek to Lewiston on Friday and Saturday in a tournament-style format. On Friday, No. 13 Corban University will face Warner Pacific University, while LC will take on Bushnell University (formerly Northwest Christian) to open up the 2020-21 campaign. Bushnell has three matches under their belt after defeating Simpson University (Calif.) twice and William Jessup (Calif.) once. To add to the toughness of the Warriors' first test, the Beacons are receiving votes in the national poll and upset the nationally ranked College of Idaho to reach the final four of the Cascade Conference Tournament in 2019.
"We were able to beat Bushnell last year in a tightly contested battle," Pohlman recalled. "They are good and I'm sure they are looking for some vengeance. They are a team that could legitimately make the national tournament. We have a real test coming in our first match-ups."
LC will go toe-to-toe with Warner Pacific on Saturday. WPU competed in LC's home tournament last year, and the Warriors downed the Knights twice during their 2019 Red Lion Invitational. The Knights also finished strong last season and took sets from then-nationally-ranked College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon.
This weekend marks the first of two tournament weekends LC State will host. Following this weekend's events will be a week off, then another home conference tournament where the Warriors will take on Oregon Tech and Multnomah University (Ore.). The team will finish its conference schedule with a trip to Corban on March 19 and 20, two matches hosting College of Idaho March 26 and 27, then travel to La Grande, Ore. on April 2 and 3 to finish regular-season play against No. 9 Eastern Oregon. The top four teams in conference will move on to a four-team single-elimination tournament, and the top two teams will move on to compete at the national tournament in Sioux City, Iowa at the end of April.
"This will be an interesting year," Pohlman added. "The injury bug has certainly ravished our team, and with COVID, there may be times we play with a limited or changing roster. Considering the direction we were going before all of this hit and the goals we have to build this program into a national powerhouse, we are going to have to remain patient and steadfast this season in the spirit of competition and for the love of the game. This season will represent resilience, the whole team will get a ton of experience and we get to use it to springboard into fall. Long-term program growth remains the focus for us, and I can't wait to see our kids compete again."
LC State will play Bushnell twice Friday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., then turn around Saturday to face off with Warner Pacific at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Cascade Conference policies do not currently allow fans in attendance, but all regular-season home games will be streamed for free at lcwarriors.com/watch.
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