GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Lewis-Clark State Volleyball team (5-1) split the opening day of the Firestorm Volleyball Classic, hosted by Arizona Christian, on Friday. The Warriors got off to a hot start in the first match of the day and took the first two set against (RV) Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) before falling in five (16-25, 18-25, 25-18, 25-22, 17-15) in the first loss of the season. LC turned things around against Valley City State (N.D.) with a three-set victory (25-17, 25-20, 25-22).
 
"We have a lot of people that want to do great things, but they didn't work for it," Head Coach Shaun Pohlman said. "There was that disassociation for just long enough, then we got a chance to debrief and talk about it. These are the things that preseason is for, that way when we face the tough conference schedule, we know what kind of adjustments we are going to make.
 
"We do have seven newcomers. We have a large roster," Pohlman continued. "We are getting everyone on the same page. We are right where we need to be and we just have to keep plugging away, and staying patient and mindful. We need to keep working for it and good things will come."
 
MATCH ONE: ERAU def. LC State 3-2 (16-25, 18-25, 25-18, 25-22, 17-15)
Carli Berntson started the match with a kill for the Warriors, and a short run of four moved the advantage to 5-1. Grecia Ung Enriquez dealt an ace to start another LC State rally with a kill by Cassidy Nelson making it four points in a row at 11-5. Jada Wyms and Nelson went back-to-back to make it a 14-7 lead.
 
A run of four, including a pair of kills by Berntson, brought the score to 18-11. Ung Enriquez gave the Warriors an eight-point lead at 21-13 before a swing by Tori Edwards ended the set 25-16.
 
An attack error by the Eagles fed into a four-point stretch to open the second set. A block by Edwards and Channa Hart gave LC an 8-4 lead, and a kill shot to the back corner kept the cushion at four at 11-7.
 
Embry-Riddle crept within one before an LC timeout, and a Nelson kill got the Warriors back on track. Ung Enriquez and Wyms put up a block and Nelson followed with an ace to build momentum and force a pause by the Eagles at 17-13. A kill by Hart and ace by Ruffing gave LC a six-point advantage at 21-15 before a massive swing by Berntson made it a 22-16 lead in the set. Nelson pushed things to set point before ending it a play later.
 
The Warriors took advantage of more attack errors by the Eagles to get the ball rolling in the third frame. ERAU evened the set 2-2 before another error gave the Warriors back the lead. Berntson and Ung Enriquez put together back-to-back kills and a block by Edwards and Hallie Seaman gave LC a 7-4 lead. The Eagles took their first lead of the match at 9-8, but a hard kill by Edwards quickly evened things up. ERAU grew its advantage to two at 13-11 before Pohlman called a timeout for LC.
 
The Warriors regained the lead on a kill by Berntson and an ace by Kenzie Dean. A kill by Ung Enriquez made it four points in a row to force an Eagle timeout at 15-13. ERAU continued to battle back and evened the set yet again at 17-17. The Eagles rallied for a 22-17 before taking the set 25-18.
 
A pair of errors by ERAU gave LC a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Berntson made it a two-point lead with a kill at 5-3 before the Eagles knotted things up 6-6. A kill by Nelson on an assist by Ashlee Bachman started a short rally to put the Warriors back in front. Berntson added on to make it 11-7 and force the Eagles to burn a timeout.
 
Trailing 17-15, Wyms cut the ERAU rally with a kill on an assist from Hannah Martinez. Nelson tied the set with a kill and Edwards put the Warriors back in front. A net-scraping ace by Ung Enriquez made it four straight LC points for a 19-17 lead. The Eagles pushed back to regain the advantage at 22-21 and 25-22.   
 
Wyms slammed a ball down to start the deciding set before an error and kill by Berntson gave the Warriors a quick 3-0 advantage. Berntson added on at 5-2, but the Eagles kept it close to stay within one. Josie Peters tallied her first kill of the match to push the lead to two at 7-5. Wyms and Peters went back-to-back to keep LC ahead by a slim margin and an ERAU error gave the Warriors a three-point lead at 12-9.
 
Hart kept the advantage at two with a kill on an assist from Ruffing at 13-11, and did the same with a dime from Martinez at 14-12. The Eagles fought off two match points to tie the set 14-14. ERAU closed out the match with a 17-15 victory.
 
Berntson led the match with 16 kills at a .371 attack percentage. Ung Enriquez and Nelson each added 12. Ruffing dished out a match-best 27 assists and Martinez dealt 24. Dean tallied 20 digs, while Ung Enriquez and Ruffing each notched a double-double with 16 and 11 digs, respectively.
 
As a team, the Warriors hit .158 and held Embry-Riddle to .145. LC produced 59 kills compared to 47 by the Eagles, and won the points battle by 15 (75-60).
 
MATCH TWO: LC State def. VCSU 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-22)
 
Wyms and Ung Enriquez put up a big solo block to open the first set and a kill from Berntson evened the set 2-2 a few plays later. After a VCSU gave LC the lead on an error, Ung Enriquez dealt back-to-back aces to keep the momentum going. Edwards slammed a ball down for a kill at 8-5 as the lead continued to build. Nelson put together a string of two straight service aces before a well-placed kill gave the Warriors a 13-8 cushion.
 
Ung Enriquez, Nelson and Wyms struck for three straight kills to fuel a five-point rally and extend the LC State lead to 20-10 in the frame. Nelson and Ung Enriquez tallied a pair of kills to push the score to set point at 24-16 and Hart ended the set with a hard-hit kill at 25-17.
 
Wyms tallied the opening point once again for the Warriors in the second set and evened the score 1-1. She teamed up with Berntson for a block to keep LC within one early before back-to-back aces by Ruffing gave LC a 9-8 lead. Peters followed with a kill to extend the run to four, but VCSU rallied back to even the score 12-12 before jumping in front 15-13.
 
LC State regained the lead after kills by Berntson, Seaman and Nelson. Seaman added her second kill of the set to push the advantage to three at 18-15 before joining Edwards on a block to force a Viking timeout. A kill from Edwards capped the rally at six points. Bachman followed up a kill by Martinez with a service ace, and a kill by Wyms made it set point at 24-19. The Warriors took the set 25-20 on a VCSU attack error.
 
The Warriors took a 3-0 lead out of the gate in set three with a pair of kills by Ung Enriquez and an ace by Martinez. A six-point run featuring kills by Wyms, Edwards, Jennah Carpenter and Seaman, as well as an ace by Dean, gave LC a commanding 11-4 advantage.
 
The Warriors continued to maintain a seven-point as a kill by Katie Rainville made it a 21-14 game. Kierstyn York added a kill at 22-16 before the Vikings rallied to cut their deficit to two at 24-22. Wyms ended the match with a kill at 25-22.
 
Wyms led the match with 10 kills on a .563 attack percentage, and Nelson tallied eight kills. Martinez dealt a team-best 22 assists and Ruffing added 11. Libero Dean had 26 digs.
 
The Warriors hit .265 as a team and held VCSU to .136. They dominated the court with 44 kills compared to the Vikings' 26.
 
LC State wraps up the Firestorm Volleyball Classic on Saturday with matches against MSU-Northern (10 a.m. PT) and Arizona Christian (2 p.m. PT) in Glendale, Ariz.
 
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