VOLLEYBALL

A sweep of Bushnell University on Friday helped LC State Volleyball secure a hosting seed for the 2024 Cascade Conference Tournament Play-In, presented by U.S. Bank. The Warriors earned the No. 6 seed and will host seventh-seeded Oregon Tech on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

The winner of Tuesday’s play-in match will advance to the final site of the CCC Tournament in La Grande, Ore., hosted by No. 3 Eastern Oregon. EOU, No. 7 Southern Oregon and No. 8 Corban (Ore.) completed the first three-way tie for the CCC title in conference history, but EOU won the tie break to host the tournament.

LC State (15-12, 12-10) split the regular-season series with OIT (18-12, 11-11) with a 3-1 win in Lewiston and 3-0 loss in Klamath Falls. The Warriors are 6-7 against the Owls dating back to 2018. In Lewiston, outside hitters Juliauna Forgach Aguilar and Taylor Boyce combined for 42 kills and Hannah Dotson led the contest with four aces. Esther Kailiponi notched a double-double with 29 assists and 10 digs, while Natany Felix Guimaraes and Makenzie Stout led LC State with 25 and 15 digs, respectively. The Warriors held OIT to an attack percentage of .145 and hit at a clip of .265.

The Owls turned the tables in Klamath Falls with a sweep of LC State. Despite Forgach Aguilar leading the match with 17 kills, a .127 attack percentage hindered the Warriors. Savanna Sterck and Willow Jacobson combined to lead OIT with 21 kills and Lucy Boyd dished out 34 assists. Kaley Whalen collected 16 digs to lead the match.

Head-to-head, LC State holds a .180-.179 edge over the Owls in attack percentage, but the Owls hold a .140-.156 opponent attack percentage mark over the Warriors. The teams are nearly identical in assists per set and kills per set.

Forgach Aguilar leads the CCC in total kills this season (463) and is second in kills per set with 4.54. OIT’s Molly Grace is fourth at 3.30 and third in service aces with 46. Boyd of OIT leads the conference in assists per set (7.41) and Aleksen Thayer is second in blocks per set (1.33). Whalen leads the Owls and the CCC in digs per set (5.33) with 560 digs and Felix Guimaraes is third with 4.98 per set and 513 this season which ranks 10th in the LC State record book.

Tickets and streaming passes for Tuesday’s match are on sale now on lcwarriors.com. Season passes are not valid for postseason contests but students receive free admission. The match will be live streamed on the Warrior Sports Network.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

No. 25 LC State Men’s Basketball opened the 2024-25 season with three straight wins, including a pair of wins at the Taco Bell Shootout in Caldwell, and continues on the road this weekend in Butte. The Warriors will take on familiar faces from the Frontier Conference in Carroll (Mont.) (2-3) and No. 9 Montana Tech (4-0) at Montana Tech’s Comfort Inn Fall Classic.

The sophomore duo of Alton Hamilton and MaCarhy Morris led the Warriors to both wins over the weekend as both averaged more than 20 points per game. Hamilton, the reigning CCC Freshman of the Year, put up a huge 28-point, 18-rebound double-double on Friday and followed up with a 22-point, 10-rebound night on Saturday. Morris was just shy of a double-double on Friday with 23 points and nine rebounds before adding another 20 points on Saturday.

The rivalry with Carroll College runs deep after key matchups during Austin Johnson’s tenure as the head coach. The Fighting Saints hold a 24-23 edge on the series record since 2003, but LC State took the most recent meeting in March of 2020. The two have not faced each other since the Warriors left the Frontier Conference. So far this season, Carroll is 2-2 against CCC teams with wins over Bushnell (Ore.) and No. 16 Oregon and losses to Eastern Oregon and Southern Oregon. Along with a loss to No. 6 Arizona Christian, the Saints have not played a game on the road this season.

The history is much more recent when it comes to Montana Tech with three matchups in the last two seasons. LC State leads the series 37-10 since 2003, but the Orediggers lead 2-1 since 2022. Tech jumped into the top 10 of the NAIA last season and defeated the Warriors 79-55 in the first matchup in 2023. John Lustig scored 13 points in that contest. LC State took the matchup that mattered more when it upset then-No. 8 Montana Tech in the NAIA Second Round in Butte to advance to the Round of 16 in Kansas City. Six Warriors scored in double-digits in the contest including Hamilton (12) and Gorden Boykins (11).

Tech is 4-0 on the season including wins over CCC teams Walla Walla (Wash.), Evergreen State (Wash.) and Northwest (Wash.). The Orediggers wrapped up their weekend with a win over Jamestown (N.D.).

The contest with Carroll is scheduled for 4 p.m. PT on Friday before Montana Tech on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. PT. Both games will be streamed on Montana Tech’s YouTube channel.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

No. 24 Warrior Women’s Basketball is off to a 3-0 start to the season after a pair of victories in Arizona last week. Ellie Sander, Sitara Byrd and Tatum Brager each averaged more than 10 points per game in the wins over Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) and Park-Gilbert (Ariz.) and Sander grabbed 11 steals between the two games. This week LC State hosts No. 9 Carroll (Mont.) (1-1) and NCAA Division III Puget Sound (0-1) in the P1FCU Activity Center.

The rival Carroll College Fighting Saints took the most recent meeting last season, but the Warriors hold the edge in the series 29-21 since 2004. The series is split 3-3 since LC State left the Frontier Conference. Sander had her breakout game the last time Carroll was in Lewiston with 20 points, six rebounds and four steals in 2022. She scored 14 points with six assists in the loss last season. The Saints have only played two games so far this year with a loss to Arizona Christian and win over DIII Whitworth.

Puget Sound is 0-1 on the season entering the week with a loss to DIII Ripon College. The Loggers will face Christopher Newport on Monday before taking on Eastern Oregon in Lewiston on Friday. The Warriors are 18-7 against Puget Sound all-time but have not faced the Loggers in more than 20 years.

LC State will host four women’s basketball games over the weekend with a pair of neutral contests each day. Puget Sound will take on EOU on Friday at 3:30 p.m. before the Warriors face Carroll at 5:30 p.m. On Saturday, Carroll will play Eastern Oregon at 2 p.m. ahead of LC State against Puget Sound at 4 p.m. All games will be live streamed on the Warrior Sports Network.