KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – When the going got tough, the Lewis-Clark State College Women's Volleyball team stuck to its big guns on Friday night.
The move paid dividends for the Warriors as they remained undefeated in Cascade Collegiate Conference play with a huge 30-28, 25-20, 22-25, 20-25, 15-12 win over Oregon Tech in the Owls' home opener.
Lisi Langi and
Grecia Ung Enriquez came up with key kills in the final set on great assists from
Vanja Tomic to help the Warriors, picked seventh in the conference's preseason poll, knock off the Owls, who were picked third and were nationally ranked in the preseason.
"A gutsy win tonight for the Warriors," LC State coach
Shaun Pohlman said. "Hats off to OIT because they played with such grit. They certainly made us have to dig deep and I'm proud of this team for pulling out the win."
LC State improves to 2-0 in conference play and 6-1 overall, while the Owls fall to 3-4 overall. OIT went 12-2 at home last season and had not lost a home opener since 2017.
In the deciding set, OIT ran off five straight points for a 7-3 lead. Behind kills from Langi and Ung Enriquez, the Warriors later answered with four straight points for a 9-8 lead. OIT tied the score, but LC State scored four of the next five points for a 13-10 advantage as Langi had another kill. OIT got within two, but kills by Langi and
Cassidy Nelson wrapped up the win for the Warriors.
Langi and Enriquez each finished with 16 kills for LC State, while Nelson added12. Langi also had eight digs and four blocks while Tomic finished with a team-high 25 assists.
"Lisa Langi and
Vanja Tomic really stepped up at the end of the fourth set and into the fifth, and the rest of the team followed so we left them out on the court," Pohlman said. "That sounds simple but not in volleyball, especially because we haven't done that this year. We took a risk as a coaching staff and we are happy it paid off."
The Warriors got off to a great start in the match but later had to fight off three set points before finally claiming the 30-28 win on a kill and an OIT attack error. It was more of the same in the second set as LC State led 8-1, only to have OIT rally and tie the set. Kills by
Channa Hart and
Jada Wyms polished off the Owls for the 25-20 win.
OIT was able to take the early leads in sets three and four. The Owls led 13-6 in the third set, and while LC State was able to cut the margin to two, it was unable to complete the sweep. In the fourth set, the Owls led 17-10 and the Warriors couldn't get closer than three.
"We had a really strong first two sets, then OIT made some adjustments that we didn't counter until it was almost too late," Pohlman said. "We are going to have to be better at not just sticking to what's comfortable, and once we did that, the game flipped in our favor.
Hart led the Warriors with eight blocks while Wyms added four.
Esther Kailiponi had 18 assists and
Kenzie Dean added a team-high 15 digs.
LC State continues CCC action on Saturday when it travels to Ashland, Ore., to take on Southern Oregon at 5 p.m. Southern Oregon is ranked No. 22 in the latest NAIA poll.
"We will celebrate tonight's win but tomorrow is going to be an even tougher battle against nationally-ranked SOU," Pohlman said. "It will be a great chance to see how we stack up. We are going to be pushed and challenged in ways we haven't been."
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