The Fort Lewis College volleyball team welcomed five foes to Whalen Gymnasium for the 2023 Skyhawks Invitational and played some of its best volleyball of the year against them.
The Skyhawks won two of their first three games, but lost a five-set barn burner on Saturday to close out the tournament.
FLC started the tournament by handing Texas A&M International its first loss of the season on Thursday in a 25-21, 25-20 and 25-20 sweep.
FLC was superior in every statistical category, holding TAMIU to a season-low hitting percentage of .010 versus a .178 clip for the home squad. The Skyhawks out-killed the Dustdevils 36-27 and backed up the offense with 48 digs.
Senior Lauren Shea led the diverse offense with 10 kills to go along with three blocks. Senior JJ Curry followed with seven kills and four blocks. The freshman middle blocking duo of Logan Spragg and Jordyn Romano combined for six kills on 18 errorless swings. Junior Natalia Lambos had 31 assists, seven digs and three kills. Junior Sarah Wilkey led the team with 13 digs, followed by sophomore Chloe Ruhl, who contributed seven.
On Friday, the Skyhawks nearly gave Angelo State its first loss, but ended up falling in four sets. After Angelo won the first set 25-20, FLC came back and took the second set 25-16. The third set was also evenly matched, but Angelo State pulled away at the end to take it 25-22 and then won the fourth set 25-20.
Freshman Alina Nunez had 11 kills and eight digs while Curry had 10 kills and nine digs in the loss. Lambos also had a double-double with 42 assists and 13 digs.
FLC then played East Central University on Friday night and hit a season-high .278 clip to win the match in four sets, 25-19, 25-15, 20-25 and 25-15.
The team racked up seven aces, 50 digs and 59 kills in the effort. Curry led the team with 16 kills, followed by Romano who knocked down 15 kills on 25 swings.
“I was impressed with how our team battled today,” said FLC head coach Giedre Tarnauskaite. “We were relentless on defense, tough with our serves and put a lot of pressure on our opponents with our offense. I am particularly happy with how our freshmen players competed. Watching our young talent compete like seasoned veterans is very exciting. We are hosting some tough opponents at this tournament, and we are looking forward to finishing our battle strong.”
The Skyhawks then concluded their home tournament on Saturday against Southwestern Oklahoma State University. The Bulldogs won the first two sets 25-20 and 25-19, but FLC rallied to take the next two 25-16 and 25-19 to force a deciding fifth set.
The fifth set was tied at 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15, but the Bulldogs eventually got back-to-back points to win the set 17-15 and take the match, 3-2.
FLC is now 3-5 overall.
The Fort Lewis College women’s soccer team took full advantage of Western Colorado University’s high-altitude location to handle the Midwestern State University Mustangs 3-0 in a nonconference matchup on Friday at Katy O. Rady Field.
Anika Scherer gave FLC a 1-0 advantage in the 31st minute while Rylee Rustad and Sabrina Reyes added second-half scores.
FLC improved to 2-0-1 overall with the win and was also scheduled to play Chaminade University on Saturday.
