LEWISTON, Idaho – The Lewis-Clark State College volleyball team used good passing and a solid performance by defensive specialist Katie Hinrichs to sweep Montana State University-Northern 25-17, 25-15, 25-19 at the Holiday Inn Express Frontier Conference Volleyball Tournament on Friday.
With the win the second-seeded Warriors move to 21-7 and onto the semifinal round. The Warriors will face the winner of the Friday's Carroll-Montana Tech match. MSU-Northern, the No. 7 seed, ends its season with a record of 7-14.
“I thought Katie [Hinrichs] played very well defensively,” said LCSC coach Jen Greeny. “Also, we were able to move the ball around and distributed it evenly.”
While passing was a bright spot in LCSC’s performance, it was part of the downfall for MSU-Northern.
"You can't play a team as good as LC and spray the ball around,” said Skylight coach Bill Huebsch. “Our ball control just wasn't very good tonight."
While passing was a bright spot in LCSC’s performance, it was part of the downfall for MSU-Northern.
"You can't play a team as good as LC and spray the ball around,” said Skylight coach Bill Huebsch. “Our ball control just wasn't very good tonight."
Ball control led the Warriors to 37 assists and a .267 hitting percentage, while the Skylights, which end the season at 7-14, finished with 24 assists and a percentage of .144.
Kim Fong and Lisa Davis shared the setting duties for LCSC. Fong finished with 19 assists, while Davis added 17.
The Warriors used a .367 hitting percentage and an 8-0 run to get past the Skylights in the first set. The eight-point run was highlighted by two services aces from Fong. Fong finished the match with three aces.
In the second set, with their hitting percentage dipping to .220 the Warriors used scrappy defense and four aces to outpace their opponent. After hitting .250 in the first set, MSUN had trouble putting balls away against LCSC's scrambling back row and hit .121.
Hinrichs seemed to be everywhere as she worked her way to 18 digs on the night. Her performance was matched on the other side of the net by Taya Tokarski who also had 18.
The score in the third set stayed fairly close until LCSC claimed nine of the last 13 points to earn the win. LCSC outhit MSUN .235 to .091 in the third set.
Clemente pushed and pounded to a game high 11 kills. She also led her team with a .348 hitting percentage, and collected three service aces and ten digs. Demi Dlouhy and Lauryn Herrick added seven kills apiece.
For MSU-Northern, which out-blocked LCSC 4-3, Brittany Baker led the way with eight kills, and Merrill Jordan led with 23 assists.
“I’d like to see us block better,” Greeny said. “Everyone will have to step up a little bit more tomorrow.”
