LEWISTON, Idaho – Outside hitters Taylor Boyce and Juliauna Forgach Aguilar combined for 42 kills and junior setter Esther Kailiponi surpassed 1,000 assists in her career in LC State Volleyball four-set victory over Oregon Tech on Friday. The Warriors took the contest with set scores of 25-21, 22-25, 25-20, 25-17. LC State earned its fifth straight win behind a .265 team attack percentage.
The victory improves the Warrior record to 9-3 overall and 6-1 in Cascade Conference play. OIT falls to 7-7 on the season and 0-6 in CCC action.
HOW IT HAPPENED
OIT errors and a kill by Forgach Aguilar evened the first set 3-3 early on, and back-to-back kills by Boyce gave LC State an 8-6 advantage. Swings by Anna Merrill and Karissa Lindner, along with an ace by Hannah Dotson, grew the margin to 12-7. An OIT rally knotted the score 17-17, but two straight kills by Forgach Aguilar and Boyce put the Warriors in front 19-17.
miscues by the Owls kept LC in the lead, 23-21, and a kill by Forgach Aguilar and block by Missy Mortensen and Hallie Seaman ended the set 25-21.
The Warriors opened the second frame with kills by Seaman, Merrill, Forgach Aguilar and Mortensen to take an 8-3 lead. A swing by Merrill, block by Merrill and Lindner and an ace by Dotson made it 12-4, but OIT regained its footing to go on 16-4 run to pull ahead 18-16. The Owls carried the momentum to a 25-22 win to even the match 1-1.
Kills by Forgach Aguilar and Boyce, paired with a block by Mortensen and Forgach Aguilar, had the set tied 5-5 in the third. A swing by Merrill sparked a run of five Warriors points, fueled by kills by Seaman and Boyce along with an ace by Abbey Neff, to help LC State pull ahead 10-6. Forgach Aguilar started another five-point swing with a kill, followed by contributions by Merrill and Mortensen, to grow the advantage to 19-11.
OIT answered to pull within three, 19-16, before a kill by Boyce brought the momentum back to LC State. Merrill added a kill and Dotson dealt an ace before two more kills by Boyce ended the set 25-20.
LC State kept its foot on the gas in the fourth frame. Forgach Aguilar tallied five kills in an 8-2 run to put the Warriors in control, and Boyce added three straight kills to make it 12-5. OIT errors pushed the margin to 18-8. Back-to-back kills by Boyce ended the match with a 25-17 set win.
STAT RECAP
Forgach Aguilar led the match with 22 kills on a .360 attack percentage and Boyce tallied a career-high 20 at a clip of .370. Merrill hit .350 with nine kills. Kailiponi was one assist shy of her career high with 29 and now stands at 1,021 in her career. The setter completed her second straight double-double with 10 digs on the night.
Dotson served a career-best four aces to lead the contest. Mortensen assisted on six blocks and Forgach Aguilar joined in on four. Natany Felix Guimaraes collected 25 digs and Makenzie Stout had 15.
The Warriors hit .265 as a team and held OIT to .145.
Savanna Sterck led the Owls with 15 kills and Molly Grace added 13. Lucy Boyd dished out 43 assists and Kaley Whalen had 21 digs. Five different OIT players had double-digits digs, including Boyd for a double-double with 15.
UP NEXT
LC State hosts perennial powerhouse No. 5 Southern Oregon on Saturday in the P1FCU Activity Center. The match is slated for 4 p.m.
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