Frontier News
 
Volleyball - Sat, Aug 28, 2010
LEWISTON, Idaho - Efficiency was the word of the day for the Lewis-Clark State College women's volleyball team on Saturday as the Warriors finished their LCSC Invitational undefeated with a 25-8, 25-10, 25-10 win over Warner Pacific College at the LCSC Activity Center.
The Warriors, ranked No. 15 in the NAIA preseason poll, need only 43 minutes to win the final match and finish the six-team round-robin tournament with a 4-0 record. Because the six teams did not play each other and some only had three matches, a champion wasn't crowned.

Fellow Frontier Conference member Carroll College also went 4-0 after defeating Northwest Christian 25-17, 29-27, 25-18 and Northwest University 25-22, 25-6, 25-18. In the first match of the day, Northwest Christian defeated Warner Pacific 18-25, 25-10, 29-27, 25-16 in the only non three-game sweep of the tournament. Northwest University went 1-2 in the tournament, while both Northwest Christian and Warner Pacific went 1-3. Walla Walla University was 0-3.

Similar to their first three matches in the tournament, the Warriors rolled early, but this time kept the pressure on. LCSC need only seven service rotations to claim the opener and then eight rotations in the second game.

"We talked about taking it to somebody and not letting up and that's what we did today," LCSC coach Jen Greeny said. "We played well."
The Warriors had 16 service aces in the match, six shy of tying the program record of 22 set in 2004, and hit .418 for the match. The Warriors' powerful and efficient attack left a smaller Warner Pacific squad under siege.

"I knew that we served well, but I had no idea," Greeny said after seeing the 16 aces on the stat sheet. "I thought we served really well today."

Junior outside hitters Lauryn Herrick and Kelli Tikker finished with three aces apiece as did senior Katie Hinrichs. In all, eight Warriors had a service ace in the match.
Herrick and Tikker also led a balanced attack at the net. Herrick tied teammate Nicole Graybeal with a match-high nine kills, while Tikker had eight and Deddiy Alaimaleata added seven.

Jenika Bird Jeppson added four kills as LCSC finished with 40 overall, compared to 14 kills for Warner Pacific. Alaimaleata hit .700 for the match, while Herrick was at .643 and Graybeal was at .444. Hinrichs had 13 digs, while Tikker added seven.

LCSC rolled to leads of 16-4 in the opening game, 11-2 in the second game, and 13-4 in the final game in cruising to the win. During the tournament, LCSC won all 12 games it played by an average score of 25-11.

"I was pleased," Greeny said. "I think a lot of people are doing good things. The competition level will rise from here on out so we need to take care of the small things."

The Warriors hit the road next week for five matches, starting Wednesday in Spokane against Whitworth. LCSC then flies to Daytona Beach, Fla., for the Embry-Riddle Labor Day Tournament. The Warriors are scheduled to play Wayland Baptist and Northwestern (Ohio) on Friday, and then Madonna and Embry-Riddle on Saturday.