LEWISTON, Idaho – After another long and grueling day of Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) matches, the No. 4-ranked Corban University Volleyball team can officially call themselves the last remaining undefeated team in conference play, as major upsets around the conference tonight provided the Warriors with an opportunity to sit atop the conference standings by themselves with a road win. The Lewis-Clark State College Warriors provided the Navy and Gold with some scares at times, but the determined Warriors earned a three-set road sweep (25-20, 32-30, 25-18) to secure first place honors all to themselves.
"LC State had an amazing crowd tonight, came ready to play and put up a great fight!" head coach Kim McLain shared earlier this evening. "I was proud of our team and how we responded and made quick adjustments on the fly. We continue to learn how to battle with a relentless, never-give-up attitude."
The hometown Warriors based out of Lewiston put the pressure on early in their annual Red Rush contest where the fan base shows off their most vibrant fire truck red clothing, jumping out to a 10-5 lead in the opening set and forcing Coach McLain into calling an early timeout.
While Corban was able to hang tight through a majority of the first set, Lewis-Clark State kept the momentum on their side and an 18-14 advantage allowed the P1FCU Activity Center to view a rare sight: Coach McLain utilizing both of her timeouts in a set. However, that second called timeout proved to the difference maker the road Warriors needed to swing the result in a matter of minutes.
Following an LC State service error, Corban rallied off four-straight kills and utilized all of their offensive weapons to the best of their ability, as junior outside hitter Rylee Troutman, freshman middle blocker Emma Bischoff, and freshman outside hitter Kendra Bittle all found paydirt to take the lead for the first time in the opening set. Scoring nine of the final eleven points allowed Corban to escape their early mistakes to take the first set 25-20 and somehow find kills on over 30% of their opportunities after making a handful of unforced errors.
Everyone in attendance and watching online this evening had the pleasure of seeing one of the even rarer moments in a volleyball match, as the two Warrior squads both reached the thirty-point mark in an absolute marathon of a set. What looked to be an easy finish for the Navy and Gold once again thanks to a seven-point run and a 21-16 advantage was squandered over the next twelve points, where LCSC reclaimed the momentum and found themselves staring at set point, 24-23.
Both sides of the net would bend but refuse to break as the night grew longer, as both teams would see multiple set point opportunities before Corban finally broke through. With LC State leading 30-29, a kill from Troutman and back-to-back attacking errors by the home team provided the Navy and Gold with a narrow 32-30 set win and silenced the once rowdy crowd in search of a top five upset.
The Warrior programs battle back-and-forth once again in what would be the third and final set, with the same swinging of the momentum pendulum occurring as the first two periods of play. Three-straight points by Corban was enough to find themselves comfortably on top as they entered the final stretch, and a 5-1 run cemented a rather interesting sweep that challenged the Navy and Gold in every facet.
Troutman continued her game-high kills mark streak with 15 more this evening while digging up five attacks in the back court as well. A career-high twenty-six attacks not only provided Bischoff with the opportunity to earn 11 kills, but also rose her attacks per set mark to above the necessary threshold to be considered for the conference-high in attack percentage. She now owns the top spot all on her own thanks to an incredibly consistent .340 kill rate.
Sophomore setter Abby Guindy was the ringmaster of the Corban offense this evening, dealing out a game-high 28 assists to take over the top spot in the CCC with an average of 6.14 per set and 301 in total for the season. Freshman setter Nadeiah Howard was key in her rotation, earning 14 assists which would have tied the team-high on the LC State sideline.
Defensively for Corban, junior libero Marissa Uehara defended a team-high 12 digs in the backcourt, while the defense at the net was quiet for the first time all season as the Navy and Gold could only muster up two solo stuffs and a block assist.
Lewis-Clark State was led by outside hitters Gianna Anderson and Juliauna Forgach Aguilar, who combined for 20 kills and a .226 kill percentage amid a handful of attacking errors. Setters Abbey Neff and Sofie Langer handled the assisting duties to the sound of 14 and 10 dimes, respectively, while libero Kenzie Dean handled a game-high 17 digs.
A late night contest in Walla Walla, Washington now sits between the No. 4-ranked Warriors and a long drive back to the Willamette Valley, as the Walla Walla University Wolves (0-7, 0-6) will host Corban at a 9pm on the campus of Walla Walla Community College due to their own gym hosting a weekend long event.
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