Warrior volleyball begins conference play at home

VOLLEYBALL –  vs. Great Falls, Thursday, Sept. 13, 7 p.m., LCSC Activity Center; vs. Montana State-Northern, Saturday, 2 p.m., LCSC Activity Center. 

CROSS COUTRY – At Sundodger Invitational, Seattle, Saturday, Sept. 15, 9 a.m. 

WAA FALL LUNCHEON – Noon, Friday, Sept. 14, LCSC Activity Center Mezzanine area.

 

VOLLEYBALL

Off to the program’s best start in six seasons, the Warriors open Frontier Conference play at home Thursday night against defending champion University of Great Falls. The match begins at 7 p.m. and has been designated “Red Out Night” to encourage fans to wear red to the match. Also, the first 100 LCSC students with Activity Cards will receive a free “Warrior Zone” T-shirt and pizza. 

LCSC stands 6-2 on the season and won four straight matches at the Whitworth Invitational to claim the title. This is the program’s best start since the 2001 squad won 22 of its first 23 matches. 

“I am happy with our performance this past weekend,” LCSC first-year coach Jen Greeny says. “We are showing progress but are still working hard to improve.” 

The Warriors, picked to finish sixth in the conference in a preseason vote by the league’s coaches, will find out a lot about themselves Thursday night against No. 24 ranked Great Falls. The Argos are 6-5 overall, but have played a tough pre-conference schedule, including six matches against NAIA-Top 25 ranked teams. Great Falls and Westminster tied for first place in the preseason coaches’ poll. 

In the latest Region I rankings, which came out Monday, LCSC climbed a spot to No. 7, while Great Falls remained at No. 3. 

LCSC only has seven home matches this season, all in league play. With this being the conference opener, and one against a ranked opponent, Greeny would like to see a good turnout Thursday night. 

“I would like to see a good showing of fans for our conference opener this week,” Greeny says.  “A home court advantage is going to be crucial this year, especially since we only play at home seven times this season.” 

On Saturday, the Warriors play host to Montana State-Northern at 2 p.m. MSU-Northern, which was picked to finish seventh in the conference standings, is 1-4 overall after picking up its first win over the weekend. 

Cintia Alessi, who earned Junior College All-American honors last season at North Idaho College, is off to a solid start at LCSC. She earned the MVP award at the Whitworth Tournament and leads LCSC with 100 kills and 121 digs. Her average of 3.7 kills per game is tops in the Frontier Conference. Senior Brittany Kubik has 67 kills and a .359 hitting percentage, best among the regulars. Kubik also has a team-best 50 blocks, and leads the conference in 1.9 blocks per game. 

Junior Julie Maciboba is at 62 kills and 33 blocks, while Lindsay Scott has 42 kills and 103 digs. Setters Lisa Davis and Mindy Meyer have 164 and 138 assists, respectively. Freshman Katie Hinrichs has 71 kills. 

Great Falls is led by junior Kari Schilller, who was the conference’s Libero of the Year last season. 

CROSS COUNTRY

The Warrior men’s and women’s cross country teams should see some quality competition this week in the University of Washington’s Sundodger Invitational at Seattle. 

The men’s course is 8,000 meters, while the women’s course covers 6,000 meters. 

LCSC lived up to the preseason hype in its first race of the season by rolling to team titles in the Walla Walla Invitational, but coach Warrior coach Mike Collins says the road will get tougher. He says he told the LCSC runners to get used to the idea of having a target painted on the back of their jerseys because other teams will be gunning for them all season.

In the first regular-season Region I rankings released on Monday, the men were ranked No. 1, while the Warrior women are ranked third. Following the men in the rankings were Eastern Oregon, Albertson and Simon Fraser. On the women’s side, Simon Fraser holds the top spot, followed by British Columbia, LCSC, and Albertson. 

The first NAIA poll of the season, based on the regional rankings, will come out Wednesday. In the preseason poll, the men were ranked No. 9 in the country, while the women were No. 12. 

The Warrior men, who placed six runners in the top nine in the season-opening meet, are led by seniors Calin Hantau and Aaron Galbraith, and sophomore Eric Tuwei. Senior Jenny Jensen and sophomore Kyli Astle were the Warriors top female finishers in the opening meet. 

WAA FALL LUNCHEON 

The annual Warrior Athletic Association’s Fall Lunch will be at noon on Friday, but at a new location, the Mezzanine level on the west side of the LCSC Activity Center. 

The event will feature LCSC women’s volleyball coach Jen Greeny and members of her team. Greeny will talk about her squad and the season, and will introduce team members in attendance. 

The cost of the lunch is $10 per person and those attending are asked to reserve a seat by calling Cindi Durgan at 792-2692, or e-mailing her at cfdurgan@lcsc.edu 

The WAA Sport Lunches are being sponsored this year by Happy Day Corporation. All student-athletes from the volleyball team, will have their lunches sponsored by KOZE 950AM.