After breezing the in opening game, the Lewis-Clark State College women’s volleyball team had to break away late in the final two games to sweep Montana State University-Northern 25-10, 25-21, 25-20 in a Frontier Conference match at the LCSC Activity Center on Thursday night.

The Warriors, 22-1 overall and ranked No. 11 in the NAIA, improved to conference-best 9-1 with all nine victories being in three-game sweeps. LCSC also improved to 9-0 at home this season, and all nine have been in three-game sweeps as well.

LCSC came out on fire on Thursday night, rolling to leads of 5-0 and 15-2 behind the hitting of senior Austyn Lewis and junior Anile Clemente, who also had a big night serving.  MSU-Northern, which is 1-13 overall and 1-9 in league play, never could recover.

The Skylights, however, made things interesting in the next two games. Despite a roster of all sophomores and freshmen, the Skylights led 12-11 in the second game and 18-17 in the third game, before LCSC was able to pull away.

‘It’s hard to get into the flow of the game, especially when we’re really serving well like and playing at such a quick pace,” LCSC coach Jennifer Greeny said of the difference between the first and final two games. “We need to learn to adapt a little quicker. And our hitters need to do a better job of terminating the ball.”

Clemente, the conference’s Co-Player of the Year last season, had a match-high 12 kills and four service aces. She also added six digs and two block assists. Lewis added five kills, with four coming in the first game, along with three block assists.

“I thought Austyn played really well and our defense was better than it has been,” Greeny said. “And Katie (Hinrichs) played well.”

Hinrichs finished with a match-high 12 digs, while Lisa Davis had 16 assists.

For the match, LCSC hit .244, while MSU-Northern hit .042.

Kaylee Bossert led the Skylights with six kills, while Montana Johnson had 21 assists.

Greeny also announced that 6-foot-2 freshman Josi Lyman has been lost for the season to a serious knee injury. Lyman, who started as an outside hitter, was fourth on the team in kills with 114.

"It’s tough to lose her,” Greeny said. “Everyone else is going to have to step it up a bit to fill her spot.”

The Warriors return to action on Saturday at 2 p.m. when they play host to the University of Great Falls at the LCSC Activity Center. Following the match, the Warriors will sign team posters, which are free to the public.