WOMEN'S GOLF

The No. 20 LC State Women’s Golf team traveled to Le Mars, Iowa, for the Northwest Iowa National Invitational, one of the top NAIA tournaments of the season, to give the young team an early test. The tournament, played at the Willow Creek Golf Course, features five ranked NAIA teams, including No. 5 Texas Wesleyan, in the eight-team field.

The Warrior lineup will feature junior Dallis Shockey, sophomores Isabella Barquet and Chase Caruso and freshmen Giulia Belfontali and Jane Barry. Barquet led the Warrior women in the first tournament of the season in a tie for ninth.

Action at the two-day event will kick off on Monday with the first of two rounds. The final round will be played on Tuesday.

VOLLEYBALL

LC State Volleyball is riding a four-match winning streak heading into its first home Cascade Conference weekend of the season following a five-match road trip. The Warriors (8-3, 5-1) will play in front of their home crowd to host Oregon Tech and No. 5 Southern Oregon.

The Warriors open the weekend on Friday at home against OIT (7-6, 0-5) at 6 p.m. The Owls have lost five straight to start CCC play, but the five matches include three teams ranked in the top 10 of the NAIA. OIT’s Molly Grace ranks seventh in the Cascade in kills per set (2.96) to lead the Owls and Kaley Whalen is second in digs per set (4.92). The Warriors are 5-6 against OIT since 2018 and took the most recent meeting 3-1 in Lewiston. Juliauna Forgach Aguilar led the match with 23 kills.

Happy Day is the sponsor of Friday night’s match, which is also the first Warrior Zone night Night of the season.

No. 5 SOU (10-1, 5-1) suffered its first loss of the season on Friday at the hands of No. 9 Corban (Ore.) in a five-set battle. A week prior, the Raiders handed No. 2 Eastern Oregon its first loss of the season in four sets, highlighting the talent of the top three teams in the CCC. Southern Oregon leads the conference in attack percentage (.250), assists per set (13.07), kills per set (13.59), blocks per set (2.85) and service aces per set (2.15) as a team. The Raiders lead the NAIA in points per set (18.6) and are second in blocks per set. Individually, Megan Perry is second in hitting percentage (.357) and Victoria Mattos leads the CCC in assists per set (6.18). The Warriors are 1-10 against SOU since 2011 with the lone victory coming in 2022. The Raiders swept both meetings last season. 

Pepsi is the sponsor of Saturday’s 4 p.m. contest.

The Warriors’ Missy Mortensen is third in the conference in attack percentage (.320) and Natany Felix Guimaraes is fifth in digs per set (4.53). Forgach Aguilar leads the CCC in total kills (197) and ranks seventh in the NAIA with 4.58 kills per set.