PORTLAND, Ore. – A deciding fifth set was needed on Friday night in LC State Volleyball's 3-2 victory (25-20, 25-19, 18-25, 24-26, 15-7) over the Multnomah Lions in Portland. Cassidy Nelson put together her seventh double-digit kill performance of the season and Juliauna Forgach Aguilar tallied a career-best en route to the Warriors' fourth Cascade Conference victory of the season.
Lisi Langi opened the match with a kill on the first ball and Nelson dealt an ace to give LC an early edge. Multnomah surged to take an 8-4 lead, but costly errors by the Lions brought the Warriors within two at 9-7. Langi kept it a two-point difference with a kill at 10-8 and more MU errors kept things close.
Kills by Carli Berntson and Nelson fueled a four-point stretch that gave LC a 15-12 advantage, but the Lions responded to tie the set 16-16. Jada Wyms sparked a rally for the Warriors, aided by an ace by Nelson and kill by Forgach Aguilar, to give LC a 20-17 advantage and force a Lion timeout. Two MU errors pushed the scoring run to five straight, 22-17, and a well-placed kill by Esther Kailiponi kept the momentum with the Warriors at 23-18. Another pair of errors by Multnomah ended the set 25-20.
Nelson got LC off to a hot start in the second with two kills and an ace. Langi capped a three-point run with a kill to make it 4-1 in favor of the Warriors, but the Lions answered to pull within one at 5-4. Forgach Aguilar and Hallie Seaman added kills and Madison Kammuller dealt an ace to keep LC ahead by a slim 9-6 margin.
A swing by Langi stretched the cushion to four, 12-8, and back-to-back solo blocks by Forgach Aguilar and Seaman made it a 17-11 advantage. The block party continued with a denial from Berntson at 19-14, and kills by Berntson and Langi kept the offense rolling for the Warriors at 22-16. An attack by Forgach Aguilar found the floor to push the score to set-point, 24-18, and an error gave LC a 2-0 set lead.
Forgach Aguilar and Nelson went back-to-back to put the Warriors in front 3-2 in the third, and another set of two straight kills, this time for Forgach Aguilar and Berntson, made it 5-4. The Lions rallied to gain momentum to take a commanding 20-11 lead before kills by Langi and Nelson, along with MU errors, kept the Warriors in the set at 23-18. The Lions scored the next two to end the frame.
A bad set by MU put LC on the board in the fourth, and kills by Forgach Aguilar and Wyms evened the score 3-3. Forgach Aguilar put the Warriors in front with a kill off a block and continued her hot streak with another kill to make it 6-5 in favor of LC State. A back-and-forth battle ensued with the two teams trading points until Multnomah strung a pair together to end the set 26-24.
Wyms gave LC an early lead in the deciding frame, and back-to-back swings by Forgach Aguilar and Langi made it 4-2. The CCC opponents traded points once more before six straight points on kills by Nelson and Langi, an ace by Ashlee Bachman and block by Wyms and Nelson gave the Warriors a 12-6 edge. A slew of Multnomah errors proved beneficial and an ace by Kailiponi closed out the set 15-7.
Nelson led all players with 15 kills in the contest and dealt three aces. Forgach Aguilar tallied a career-high 12 kills to tie Langi, and Kailiponi dished 24 assists. Kenzie Dean collected 14 digs.
UP NEXT
LC State continues the weekend in Portland with a match at Warner Pacific on Saturday at 5 p.m.
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