BILLINGS, Mont. -- The Lewis-Clark State College women's volleyball team continued with its remarkable accomplishment this season on Saturday by winning the Frontier Conference Tournament title by defeating both Westminster and Great Falls.

 

The Warriors defeated Westminster 30-27, 30-27, 20-30, 30-28 to capture the championship and become only the second LCSC volleyball squad to win both the conference regular season and tournament titles in the same year. LCSC won both titles in 1999, the year it joined the conference.

 

LCSC went just 8-19 a year ago and was picked to finish sixth in the conference this year in the coaches' preseason poll. The Warriors also hired a new coach this year after the spring workouts.

 

The Warriors, however, responded to coach Jennifer Greeny and posted a 12-2 conference record and now stand at 21-5 heading into the Region I tournament next week.

 

LCSC, the tournament's top seed and ranked No. 20 in the NAIA poll, came through in the crunch time to defeat Westminster for the third time this season.

 

The Warriors advanced to the championship match earlier in the day by sweeping No. 5 seed University of Great Falls 30-24, 30-21, 30-24, while Westminster advanced by defeating No. 3 Montana Tech.  Great Falls swept Montana Tech for third place and earned an automatic berth into the Region I tournament.

 

The Region I tournament opens play on Thursday in Spokane. The top eight teams from the Region I's final poll, which comes out on Sunday night, will play in the regional tournament. Regional play begins with four-team pools and the top two teams from each pool advance to the semifinal round. The tournament wraps up next Saturday.

 

The Warriors used defense and strong serving to subdue Great Falls. Cintia Alessi had six service aces in the match, while Brittney Kubik had five blocks. Lindsay Scott added 25 digs.

 

Anile Clemente paced the Warrior offense with 12 kills, while Julie Maciboba had seven and Alessi finished with six. Lisa Davis added 18 assists.

 

The potential bad news for the Warriors is that freshman setter Kim Fong was hurt in the match, and LCSC coach Jennifer Greeny said Fong might have torn an ACL. The extent of the injury won't be known until Monday.