SURPRISE, Ariz. – Lewis-Clark State Volleyball hit a bump in the road on Friday when it dropped a pair of matches at the OUAZ Invitational. The Warriors fell to Montana Western in three sets before a four-set contest ended in favor of Arizona Christian.
LC State is 2-3 on the season heading into Saturday’s weekend finale against MSU-Northern.
MATCH ONE: Montana Western def. LC State 3-0 (26-24, 25-14, 25-15)
Juliauna Forgach Aguilar notched the first kills for LC State on the day, and an error by UMW sparked a six-point run that featured a block by Anna Merrill, ace by Forgach Aguilar and kill by Gianna Anderson to give the Warriors a 9-5 lead. The Bulldogs regrouped out of a timeout to take a 13-10 advantage, but four straight UMW errors put LC State back in front 14-13.
The teams battled back-aback and forthghout the set as kills by Forgach Aguilar and Karissa Lindner kept the score close. An ace dealt by Sofie Langer tied the score 19-19 and a kill by Lindner made it 20-20. Katie Rainville served an ace to put the Warriors in front 23-21, but UMW rallied to take the set 26-24.
Montana Western kept its momentum going with a 9-0 run to start the second set before a kill by Forgach Aguilar cut the rally. A block by Anderson and block by Missy Mortensen and Merrill kept LC within 10, but the Bulldogs took complete control of the frame for a 25-14 win.
Kills by Forgach Aguilar and Lindner gave LC an early 2-1 lead in the third set. UMW regained its momentum to pull ahead 8-4 before Anderson tallied back-to-back kills to keep the margin slim at 8-6. The Bulldogs continued to build their advantage to 18-10 before closing out the match with a 25-15 victory.
Forgach Aguilar led LC State with eight kills in the contest and two service aces. Anderson tallied six kills. Natany Felix Guimaraes collected 17 digs and Kenzie Dean had 13.
MATCH TWO: Arizona Christian def. LC State 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-19, 25-23)
Arizona Christian got out to a 3-0 start before a kill by Forgach Aguilar put the Warriors on the board. ACU errors and an ace by Felix Guimaraes had LC within three, 8-5, but another run by the Firestorm pushed the deficit to 11-5. Katie Rainville dealt an ace and a block by Mortensen and Forgach Aguilar brought the Warriors within two, 12-10, but ACU forced an LC timeout at 15-10.
Forgach Aguilar threw down a kill and Mortensen and Merrill teamed up for a block for two straight points out of the pause but the Firestorm rallied to surge ahead 24-16. Back-to-back kills by Forgach Aguilar and Mortensen, followed by an ace by Rainville, fueled a four-point run for LC before ACU finished off the set 25-20.
Arizona Christian errors and a kill by Abbey Neff had the second set tied 3-3 early in the second frame. Abby Meyer added a kill continue the back-and-forth and a pair by Forgach Aguilar pushed the Warrior lead to two at 10-8. The sophomore put up a block with Mortensen before serving an ace to keep LC in front by a small 12-10 margin.
The freshmen duo of Anderson and Lindner dropped in two straight kills to make it a 15-11 advantage and force an ACU timeout. A three-point run to break a 17-17 tie was capped by an ace by Rainville, and a kill by Lindner helped end the set with the Warriors in front 25-23.
The Firestorm took off with an 8-4 lead in the third set before kills by Anderson, Forgach Aguilar and Lindner tied things up 8-8. LC called a timeout trailing 16-12 and Forgach Aguilar followed the pause with a kill and an ace to make it 16-14. ACU went on a 9-5 run to take the frame 25-19 for a 2-1 advantage in the match.
Kills by Anderson and Neff started the fourth frame with a 3-0 Warrior lead, but Arozina Christian answered with a 6-1 run to jump ahead 6-4. Kills by Forgach Aguilar kept the set within a point before ACU stretched the difference to 13-10. LC kept the Firestorm within reach with kills by Merrill, Neff, Lindner, Anderson and Forgach Aguilar. A pair of errors by ACU and a kill by Forgach Aguilar gave the Warriors an 18-16 advantage before a swing by Merrill and ace by Makenzie Stout made it 21-18.
Two more kills by Anderson pushed the lead to 23-21 but ACU fired back to take the set 25-23 and end the match.
Forgach Aguilar led LC State in kills for the fifth straight match with 12 and Anderson added 11. Neff dished out 17 assists and Langer had 16. Dean led the defense with 20 digs and Mortensen put up three block assists. Rainville served three aces.
The Warriors conclude their stay at the OUAZ Invitational on Saturday with a matchup against former Frontier Conference opponent MSU-Northern at 8 a.m.
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