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Regis leaves FLC with a bad taste in its mouth

Skyhawks can wash it out Saturday against Black Hills State

The plan was to start the conference season strong at home with three games in three days.

So far, the Fort Lewis College volleyball team has struggled to stick with the plan.

FLC (3-7, 0-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) fell 3-0 (25-10, 25-10, 25-15) to Regis on Friday night at Whalen Gymnasium after dropping a five-set heartbreaker against Colorado Christian the previous night.

Regis (6-4, 1-1 RMAC) made quick work of the Skyhawks, using a balanced, efficient offense.

Four Rangers had more than five kills, led by Caitie Breaux’s 17. They hit .386 as a team and cracked .400 in the first two sets.

FLC head coach Kelley Rifilato attributed that to the strong play of Regis setter Rebecca Sponcil, who had 36 assists.

“When she jump sets, she holds our middle blockers and freezes them. They have to be a little bit late, because they don’t know where the ball is going,” Rifilato said. “She looks exactly the same when she sets outside, middle or to the right side, so our middles were having a tough time getting to the outside.”

That put more pressure on the Skyhawks’ back line to make digs.

FLC sophomore libero Ally Dell’Amico led the team with 16 digs as the anchor of the Skyhawks’ defense.

“It makes it a little more difficult,” Dell’Amico said of having a less effective block. “On my side, I just need to read the hitter, and when I see her, move in and pass the ball.”

Regis didn’t give FLC much of a chance to catch its breath, racing out to a 5-0 lead in the second set and a 4-0 lead in the third.

FLC battled back to tie the third set at nine on a huge solo block by freshman middle Hannah Hargrove, but Regis outscored the Skyhawks 16-6 to close out the set and match.

Regis’ block made killing the ball a challenge all night for FLC. The Skyhawks hit .009 as a team and hit in the negatives in Game 2 after errors were subtracted.

Senior outside hitter Ashley Wells led FLC with eight kills but struggled with seven errors at the net because of the Rangers’ “big block camp.”

“Having a big block camp on you limits your options, and you can only hit as hard as you can in places so much. With that big block, they are able to move their defense away from our block and pick it up like a piece of cake,” Wells said.

Some of the Skyhawks’ offensive struggles came from a lack of set variety.

Kennedy Clark and Ciara Krening are taking over for injured setter Heather Danny, who hurt her hip during the Skyhawks’ season-opening tournament in Laredo, Texas.

Krening led the team with 17 assists, and Clark had four.

“We just need to get better,” Rifilato said.

They won’t have to wait long for another opportunity: Black Hills State will visit Whalen Gym at 3 p.m. Saturday.

“I’m thankful that the weekend is not over with, because it would leave a really bad taste in your mouth to have to go orward and wait five days to play,” Rifilato said. “It gives us an opportunity, hopefully, to take it out on Black Hills.”

kgrabowski@durangoherald.com

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