The first game of the season didn’t go the way the Skyhawks wanted. They got another chance only moments later and showed serious fight.
The Fort Lewis College volleyball team got into the swing of a spring season Sunday in Denver with a pair of games against Metropolitan State University of Denver and 19th-ranked Colorado School of Mines.
FLC, with eight new players and a new head coach, was swept 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-18) in the first match against MSU-Denver (2-0) but responded against the Orediggers (1-1) to hotly contest three of the four sets played.
Still, Mines proved formidable enough to secure a 3-1 victory (25-18, 21-25, 25-22, 32-30) with an epic fourth-set win.
“This was a good beginning to our season,” FLC head coach Giedre Tarnauskaite said in a news release. “I was satisfied with how we played, but at the same time I’m hungry and I know that’s the same attitude our team has. I think we realized that we can actually compete. We came out fighting. Having a younger team, we’re still learning through some things, trying different lineups and matchups. We saw that we can play well and hang with the best in our conference.”
After the win against Fort Lewis, Mines would fall 3-1 (24-26, 25-20, 25-13, 25-19) to Metro State.
Rylee Johnson led FLC with 20 kills during the weekend, while Alexa Treguboff had 19 and Kendall Deeter added 18. Deeter leads the Skyhawks with four blocks.
Johnson and Treguboff had career-highs for kills against Mines with 16 and 15, respectively. Johnson hit for a .452 percentage in the match.
Makena Ahuna had 22 assists against the Roadrunners and added 49 against Mines.
FLC will be back in action at 6 p.m. Thursday at Adams State in Alamosa. The Skyhawks will host Black Hills State and Westminster College on Feb. 6. Fan attendance will not be permitted because of COVID-19 guidelines.
