HUNTINGTON, Ind. – The LC State Volleyball team got off to a hot start to begin the 2021 campaign with a pair of 3-0 sweeps at the Forester Invitational. The Warriors defeated Goshen (Ind.) (25-18, 25-14, 25-21) to open the season before dominating the court for a victory over Calumet of St. Joseph (Ind.) (25-9, 25-13, 25-16).
 
"It was nice to get out there and get back to playing," Head Coach Shaun Pohlman said. "We were able to get a lot of people in and obviously that is going to go a long way."
 
Freshman Grecia Ung Enriquez was stellar in the first contest of her career and notched 12 kills. She wrapped up her day with a total of 17 kills and a .536 attack percentage. As a team, the Warriors hit .321 between the two matches.
 
"I think that we have a lot of people that want to achieve great things and they are willing to listen, willing to sacrifice and willing to do whatever is asked of them in order to try to succeed at a high level," Pohlman added. "It will be nice to see as the season progresses because we are not at our best, no one is really. I think we will just get better as time goes on."
 
MATCH ONE: LC State def. Goshen 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-21)
Cassidy Nelson scored the first point of the season in her Warrior debut, and Jess Ruffing followed with a service ace to give LC a 2-0 advantage. Jada Wyms and Nelson went back-to-back with assists from Ruffing, and a block by Wyms and Carli Berntson and an ace by Nelson made it a four-point run at 6-1.
 
Errors by the Warriors allowed Goshen to go on a 6-3 run and climb within two at 9-7, but three straight kills by Ung Enriquez, Tori Edwards and Channa Hart swung the momentum back to LC State. Nelson made it four kills in a row and a pair of aces by Ung Enriquez gave the Warriors a 15-7 lead on the six-point rally. Back-to-back big swings by Edwards on assists from Hannah Martinez pushed the score to 23-14 before Nelson made it a 10-point lead a play later.
 
Wyms ended the first set with a kill assisted by Martinez at 25-18.
 
Goshen jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second frame before LC scored seven unanswered points. A block by Wyms and Berntson and a kill by Berntson got the Warriors back in the game, and a kill by Wyms evened the set. An ace by Nelson gave LC the lead on the five-point run and Ung Enriquez and Berntson went back-to-back to make it seven points in a row.
 
A kill by Ung Enriquez sparked another rally that spanned six points and gave the Warriors a 15-6 advantage. She continued her big debut with back-to-back kills to make it 20-12 in favor of LC State. The Warriors took the set 25-14 on a kill by Berntson after an ace by Kenzie Dean.
 
Berntson threw down a pair of kills before Ung Enriquez joined in to put the Warriors in front 4-3 in the third set. Hart started a run of three points with a kill, and a point by Edwards and an ace by Ung Enriquez pushed the advantage to five at 10-5. Edwards went back-to-back with assist from Lexi Trowbridge before assisting on a block with Kierstyn York and dealing an ace to give LC a strong 14-8 lead.
 
Wyms and Katie Rainville teamed up for a block before Goshen attempted to mount a comeback. The Maple Leafs pulled within one at 18-17, but a kill by Edwards and block by Wyms pushed the advantage put to 20-17. Ung Enriquez ended the set at 25-21 to give the Warriors their first victory of the season.
 
In her collegiate debut, Ung Enriquez led the Warriors with 12 kills on an impressive .435 attack percentage. She added three service aces and five digs to her match. Edwards and Berntson each tallied eight kills with Berntson leading the team with a .438 attack percentage.
 
Nelson led the Warriors with four service aces and also had six kills to go with four digs. Dean led the defense with 10 digs, and Wyms had four blocks. Ruffing dealt 19 assists and Martinez added 12.
 
As a team, LC State hit .275 and held Goshen to just .078. The Warriors had more than double the number of kills (42-17) and dealt 12 service aces.  
 
MATCH TWO: LC State def. Calumet of St. Joseph 3-0 (25-9, 25-13, 25-16)
The Warriors continued to excel on the court in the second match of the day. LC State took on Calumet of St. Joseph and dominated in all three sets of the sweep.
 
LC came out of the gate strong with five points to take an early lead. A pair of kills by Ung Enriquez fueled a run of four, and another three from the freshman paired with a kill by Hart to grow the advantage to 13-4. The Warriors rolled through the first set for the 25-9 victory.
 
It was much of the same in set two as a block by Edwards and Seaman capped a four-point run to get things started. Calumet pulled within three at 16-13, but a kill by Rainville sparked a nine-point run to end the set 25-13.
 
Edwards rattled off back-to-back kills in the third frame to put LC State in front early. Kills by Seaman and Peters, paired with a block by Rainville and Edwards and an ace by Ashlee Bachman, sent the Warriors on a four-point run to make it 7-3. Rainville added a kill and two aces before a kill by York fueled another LC run, and the pair went back-to-back to end the set 25-16.
 
Peters and Nelson led the Warriors with six kills each. Ung Enriquez hit a perfect 1.000 with five kills on five swings, and Rainville notched an attack percentage of .800 on her four kills.
 
"Even just in the Calumet game we had freshmen contributing, so it was really cool to see that across the board everyone is contributing," Pohlman said. "A lot of it isn't just the outcomes that we are getting, but a lot of it is the process. If you look at Katie Rainville in the first match, she didn't look as good, but in the second match she really took to the process as diligently as she could and she played like it."
 
Ruffing dished out 15 assists and Martinez added 12. Dean held down the back court with six digs while Edwards and Rainville each had two blocks.
 
The Warriors continue the Forester Invitational on Saturday with a pair of matches. They will face host Huntington (Ind.) at 7 a.m. PT and wrap the weekend up against Saint Ambrose (Iowa) at 9 a.m. PT. A live stream will be available for the first match and both will have live stats.
 
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