SALEM, Ore. – The No. 5-ranked Corban University Women's Volleyball team earned the right to call themselves the true Warriors of the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) following their Halloween Night four-set road match at No. 12-ranked Lewis-Clark State College, as the Dubs locked up a season sweep of LC State in their tenth ranked matchup victory of the year via 29-27, 21-25, 25-22, and 25-10 final set scores.
"LC State is aggressive at the net, so we knew we had to serve tough to keep them out of system," explained Warriors' head coach Kim McLain shortly after their penultimate road outing. "We came out a little tentative but settled in and found our rhythm as the match went on. Our team showed great composure and grit down the stretch to finish strong for the win. Always nice to come out with a road victory in this strong conference!"
The opening period truly set the pace for what would become a back-and-forth battle of the Warrior squads in Lewiston, as Corban (20-4, 14-3) and LC State (15-5, 12-5) exchanged runs across the first set before Lewis-Clark State appeared to have the Navy and Gold bested with a 24-22 set point scenario.
However, back-to-back Corban points forced extra rallies to be played in the very first set, and after kills from senior opposite hitter Makayla Roginski and junior outside hitter Kendra Bittle, LC State errored themselves into a 29-27 first set loss.
A five-point run late in the second set proved to be the difference maker and allow the Lewiston-based Warriors to knot the match at one set apiece, as Corban would eventually pull to within point but a 6-3 advantage over the final nine points resulted in the 25-21 losing set score.
After LC State scored the first four points of the third set, the Navy and Gold rallied right back with six-straight points of their own, which included three-straight service aces scored by junior outside hitter Emma Bischoff, who is now just a few aces off the second-highest mark across the CCC in aces per set (0.52). Corban would not trail for the remainder of the third set and edged out a 25-22 score by scoring four of the final five points.
While the first three sets resulted in barnburner scores, the fourth was quite literally a blowout by the visiting squad, as LC State managed just four total kills while committing another seven attacking errors during a 15-kill, 3-error set for the Navy and Gold that resulted in a .522 kill percentage in the fourth period alone. The Warriors' dominant play in the fourth clinched a 12th consecutive win for Corban over Lewis-Clark State that dates back to before the 2020 season. Since LC State joined the CCC for women's volleyball, the Navy and Gold have yet to face defeat to their mascot doppelgangers.
The attacking firm of Bischoff, Roginski, and Bittle was at peak performance today for Coach McLain and her squad, with Bischoff pummeling a game-high 18 kills while securing 15 digs defensively for a stacked double-double outing. Roginski and Bittle added 16 and 4 kills respectively, and all three of the Corban attackers hit over .350 from the net overall with just ten combined errors on 94 total attempts.
Junior setter Nadeiah Howard once again stepped up defensively to earn her fifth double-double of the year after dishing out 18 assists, marking her second-straight double-double performance and third in the past four matchups. Senior setter Abby Guindy led the Warriors with 29 dimes and dug up six balls in the backcourt.
LC State outside hitter Juliauna Forgach Aguilar was one kill off Bischoff with 17 to represent her team's highest kill count, with middle blocker Aby Beaton adding another 11 kills as the only other double-digit kills provider. Libero Ella Stosich dug up 12 digs and all-around setter Teagan Scott was limited to 37 assists despite playing nearly every rotation tonight.
Tomorrow night, the Warriors will partake in their final road matchup of the 2025 regular season, as they'll play in the final contest of the weekend thanks to a 7:30pm start time at RV Walla Walla University (12-8, 10-7) on the Wolves' Senior Day.
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