LEWISTON, Idaho – It took back-to-back five-set matches, but a tired Lewis-Clark State College roster persevered its way to its third consecutive Frontier Conference tournament title. The Warriors brought down Great Falls 20-25, 25-19, 25-20, 23-25, 15-12 in the title match of the Holiday Inn Express Frontier Conference Volleyball Tournament on Saturday night.
The win gives the Warriors an automatic berth to the 36-team NAIA national tournament. This will be the Warriors third straight appearance at nationals.
To earn the title the Warriors had to get past the hard hitting Argos who entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and had little trouble winning its first two matches of the tournament.
“We knew it was going to be tough, but we’re just happy with the outcome,” LCSC coach Greeny said. “We kept fighting and I’m really proud of them.”
The season comes to an end for Argos who finish the season at 18-11. Great Falls received votes but was not ranked in the NAIA final top 25 poll, and did not receive one of the eight at-large berths which were announced on Saturday night. The list of teams receiving at-large berths along with the entire 36-team field can be found at the bottom of this release.
One of the keys for LCSC, which showed some signs of fatigue as a result of its five-set comeback win over Carroll a few hours earlier in the day, was to slow the pace of UGF’s hard hitting offense. Lewis-Clark State used 13 blocks to try to slow down its opponent, but still was out swung 63-52 in kills.
Great Falls seemed to have free reign around the net in the first set, which resulted in the Argos hitting .361 to LCSC’s .233. The Warriors then combined for five blocks in the second and third set to help keep UGF’s hitters under control.
“It was just an emotional rollercoaster match,” said UGF coach Arunas Duda. “We didn’t pass the ball well in the second and third games, but we battled. It’s tough to beat this caliber of team on their court.”
“We have a lot of seniors that just weren’t ready to be done yet,” said Duda. “I’m really proud of the girls and their effort. It was a heckuva ride, especially the second half of the season.”
The Argos were led by 16 kills from Cali Buck, 15 from Nunes, and 14 from Kelsey Vanuden.
On the match, the Warriors hit .208 while Great Falls hit .199.
LCSC efforts were again spearheaded by Anile Clemente who led the team with 16 kills and 16 digs. Lauryn Herrick also added 12 kills and had a game high five service aces.
“It was crazy,” said Clemente. “After our match against Carroll this morning we set the goal of winning it all, but we knew we were against a tough opponent. We picked it up when we needed to and it was an amazing win.”
2009 NAIA Volleyball National Championship Qualifiers
|
Team
|
Record^
|
Qualification
|
National Championship appearances
|
Record
|
Titles
|
|
Azusa Pacific (Calif.)
|
24-8
|
At-large
|
8
|
20-10
|
1
|
|
Bellevue (Neb.)
|
28-7
|
At-large
|
4
|
6-7
|
0
|
|
Biola (Calif.)
|
22-8
|
At-large
|
9
|
34-16
|
0
|
|
Black Hills State (S.D.)
|
24-11
|
Dakota Athletic Conference champion
|
2
|
2-2
|
0
|
|
California Baptist
|
26-5
|
At-large
|
13
|
45-17
|
2
|
|
College of Idaho
|
24-2
|
Cascade Collegiate Conference championship
|
4
|
6-10
|
0
|
|
College of the Ozarks (Mo.)
|
26-10
|
Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference champion
|
2
|
1-2
|
0
|
|
Columbia (Mo.)
|
37-2
|
American Midwest Conference champion
|
16
|
64-33
|
3
|
|
Concordia (Calif.)
|
26-7
|
At-large
|
5
|
18-5
|
0
|
|
Doane (Neb.)
|
28-7
|
Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament runner-up
|
8
|
10-19
|
0
|
|
Evangel (Mo.)
|
28-8
|
Heart of America Athletic Conference champion
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
|
Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)
|
23-12
|
TranSouth Athletic Conference champion
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
|
Fresno Pacific (Calif.)
|
31-0
|
Golden State Athletic Conference champion
|
19
|
83-23
|
4
|
|
Friends (Kan.)
|
28-10
|
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference champion
|
2
|
0-4
|
0
|
|
Georgetown (Ky.)
|
40-2
|
Mid-South Conference champion
|
14
|
22-35
|
0
|
|
Indiana East
|
30-11
|
Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
|
1
|
-
|
-
|
|
Indiana Tech
|
32-6
|
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference champion
|
2
|
2-2
|
0
|
|
Lee (Tenn.)
|
32-5
|
Southern States Athletic Conference champion
|
8
|
5-19
|
0
|
|
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)
|
23-7
|
Frontier Conference champion
|
10
|
19-20
|
0
|
|
Lubbock Christian (Texas)
|
26-5
|
Sooner Athletic Conference champion
|
7
|
11-16
|
0
|
|
Menlo (Calif.)
|
17-9
|
California Pacific Conference champion
|
2
|
0-1
|
0
|
|
Mobile (Ala.)
|
23-10
|
Gulf Coast Athletic Conference champion
|
3
|
3-4
|
0
|
|
Morningside (Iowa)
|
31-7
|
Host berth
|
2
|
1-2
|
0
|
|
Northwestern (Iowa)
|
33-2
|
Great Plains Athletic Conference regular season champion
|
9
|
15-19
|
0
|
|
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)
|
33-8
|
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference champion
|
8
|
5-21
|
0
|
|
Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.)
|
19-11
|
At-large
|
12
|
36-20
|
0
|
|
Saint Ambrose (Iowa)
|
34-7
|
Midwest Collegiate Conference champion
|
5
|
4-14
|
0
|
|
Savannah College of Art & Design (Ga.)
|
28-7
|
The Sun Conference champion
|
5
|
3-11
|
0
|
|
Shawnee State (Ohio)
|
30-3
|
American Mideast Conference regular season champion
|
2
|
0-1
|
0
|
|
Southern Oregon
|
24-3
|
At-large
|
5
|
12-14
|
0
|
|
St. Thomas (Texas)
|
21-9
|
Association of Independent Institutions champion
|
2
|
0-1
|
0
|
|
Taylor (Ind.)
|
34-5
|
Mid-Central College Conference champion
|
5
|
10-16
|
0
|
|
Texas at Brownsville
|
31-1
|
Red River Athletic Conference champion
|
2
|
3-2
|
0
|
|
Union (Ky.)
|
29-4
|
Appalachian Athletic Conference champion
|
3
|
2-3
|
0
|
|
Vanguard (Calif.)
|
17-12
|
At-large
|
2
|
3-2
|
0
|
|
Walsh (Ohio)
|
28-8
|
American Mideast Conference tournament champion
|
5
|
7-10
|
0
|
