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No. 23-ranked Warriors finish undefeated at home
Cintia Alessi had six of Lewis-Clark State College’s 12 service aces, including three at the start of the second game, to help the Warrior women’s volleyball team finish the home portion of its schedule undefeated with a 30-25, 30-19, 30-11 Frontier Conference win over Carroll College at the LCSC Activity Center on Sunday.
The Warriors, 16-5 overall and 10-2 in conference play, went 7-0 at home this season. During the past two seasons, the Warriors were a combined 8-17 at home.
“I really liked this match because it means we went undefeated at home,” LCSC first-year coach Jen Greeny said. “It’s so important to have that home-court advantage and keep it all the through the season.”
This year’s remarkable turnaround under Greeny has the Warriors ranked No. 23 in the NAIA and just two wins away from finishing no worse than a tie for first place in the conference. LCSC, picked to finish sixth in the league’s preseason poll, stands tied with Westminster for first place in the league and both have the same road trip to end the season – on the road next week against winless Western Montana and third place Montana Tech. If the Warriors win both matches, they will be the top seed for the conference tournament based on sweeping Westminster this season. If Montana Tech can sweep both LCSC and Westminster, all three could wind up tied for the conference title, but LCSC again would be awarded the top tournament seed because of the best head-to-head record against the other two teams.
“We have to play really focused at Montana Tech because it is a tough place to play,” Greeny said. “We need to just lay it all on the line.”
In Sunday’s match, the Warriors had their troubles in the first game. LCSC led 15-10, but Carroll rallied to take a 20-19 advantage. With the match tied at 23, LCSC proceeded to score seven of the final nine points to capture the win. Lindsay Scott had two of her four service aces to help close out the game.
“We let them hang with us a little bit because of some unforced errors,” Greeny said. “Carroll can be a scary team. You don’t know when their youth will catch fire. They have a lot of good young players.”
Alessi provided the spark for LCSC in the second game as her serving put the Warriors up 5-0. LCSC stretched it to 13-5 and Carroll could get no closer than eight the rest of the way.
The Warriors again came out strong in the third game and turned a 9-3 lead into an 18-4 advantage to cruise the rest of the way.
Anile Clemente led the Warriors with 14 kills, while Alessi had 11 kills and eight digs. Scott finished with seven digs, while Julie Maciboba had eight kills and five assists. Lisa Davis had 19 assists, while Kim Fong added 17.
For the match, the Warriors hit .287, compared to .090 for Carroll. Both teams finished with 12 blocks.
Brittney Kubik, one of two seniors honored before their final home match of their LCSC careers, finished with six blocks and five kills, while Marie Balmer added seven kills and an ace.
Sammy Priddy had 11 kills for Carroll, while Mandy McFadden had 12 assists and five digs. Carroll has seven sophomores, six freshmen, and two juniors on its roster.
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