VOLLEYBALL

The Cascade Conference proved to be one of the deepest volleyball conferences in the NAIA when a much-improved Walla Walla (Wash.) team defeated LC State on Thursday. With three schools ranked in the top 15 and many others in the hunt, the race to the CCC postseason heats up this week. The Warriors hit the road for their first full weekend of Cascade Conference play this week with a trip to Northwest (Wash.) on Friday and Evergreen State (Wash.) on Saturday. The weekend marks the first CCC action for both Northwest and TESC.

The Warriors (4-3, 1-1) are 6-5 against the Eagles (5-3) since 2010 but dropped all three matches last season. The two teams met most recently in the CCC postseason where Northwest defeated LC State 3-1 despite 17 kills by Juliauna Forgach Aguilar. The Eagles are coming off a 2-2 weekend in Omaha with wins over Oklahoma Panhandle State and Grand View (Iowa), and losses to No. 6 Midland (Neb.) and The Master’s (Calif.).

LC State heads into the contest the Geoducks with a 7-2 record since 2010. The Warriors swept both meetings last season behind 13 kills in each match by Forgach Aguilar. Abbey Neff dealt 20 assists in the contest in Olympia and Esther Kailiponi added 17. The Geoducks are in search of their first win of the season after losses to No. 23 Providence (Mont.), Ottawa (Ariz.) and MSU-Northern. 

Warrior offensive leader Forgach Aguilar currently ranks eighth in the NAIA in kills per set (4.50) and 14th in points per set (4.80).