The Fort Lewis College volleyball team has been getting the brooms and dust pans out recently at home.
For the second consecutive match, the Skyhawks swept their opponent. FLC beat Western Colorado, 3-0, on Tuesday night at home to bolster its already impressive record.
“It took us a while to adjust to the different style of play and I’m glad the team did,” FLC head coach Justin Wong said. “We came out with a much more fighting spirit in Set 2 and Set 3. We're now in mid-season, so it's like exams, volleyball and all that stuff. So I'm glad we're able to finish that match as opposed to let Western back into it.”
FLC improved to 12-4 overall and 6-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with its 25-23, 25-10, 25-18 win over Western Colorado. The Mountaineers dropped to 1-16 overall and 0-7 in the RMAC with the loss.
It was a well-balanced effort for the Skyhawks, with 12 players finishing with kills. Freshman outside hitter Cambria Freymuth and junior outside hitter Alina Nunez led the Skyhawks with nine kills each. Freshman setter Arianna Reyna led the team with 23 assists and freshman defensive specialist Alyx Daugherty led FLC with 11 digs.
“She’s found a home on the right side,” Wong said about Nunez. “Early in the season, we were trying to find her a home and she had to split time between the outside and the right side. Now with her focus on one position, it’s definitely helped her.”
The Skyhawks got off to a 3-0 lead in Set 1, but Western Colorado quickly got back into it after some FLC attack errors and led 7-6. Western Colorado led 12-9 after some good play at the net and two serving errors for the Skyhawks.
With the Mountaineers up 15-12, Western Colorado only had three kills, which showed how many errors FLC had.
The Skyhawks hung in there and cut down on the errors late in Set 1. FLC had a great rally with some quality digs, leading to a cross-court kill from the left side by junior middle blocker Ellie Ames to tie the set at 21.
“Service pressure kind of saved us,” Wong said about Set 1. “It didn’t really save us in the second and third set, but it was the driving force for how we were doing so well.”
Butler had a powerful kill down the middle for a 23-22. An attack error by Western Colorado gave FLC a 24-22 lead. Freymuth came through to finish the comeback. She rose up from the back row to hit a powerful kill down the middle for the 25-23 Set 1 win.
The Skyhawks had a great start to Set 2 and led 8-2. FLC scored at the net, from the posts and up the middle. Nunez had a few quality kills from the right post and senior middle blocker Ella Bulter had a thunderous kill that the Western Colorado libero couldn’t handle, forcing a Mountaineer timeout with FLC up 8-2.
FLC continued to build its lead as Western Colorado couldn’t handle FLC’s serves, leading to easy digs for FLC. Nunez’s kill from the right side gave FLC a 12-2 lead.
Wong said the service pressure FLC was putting on Western Colorado made the Mountaineers pass poorly and took them out of their system. This allowed FLC to be more comfortable, according to Wong.
Western Colorado couldn’t get near FLC in the second set as the Skyhawks kept their double-digit lead throughout. The Skyhawks’ play looked much cleaner and, therefore, much more in control. This allowed them to pick apart the Western Colorado defense and wait for the Mountaineers to make a mistake. Butler’s kill to the right gave FLC a 25-10 Set 2 win. The Skyhawks had 14 combined attack and service errors in Set 1, compared to four in Set 2.
Set 3 wasn’t as dominant for FLC early on, as the Skyhawks and Mountaineers were tied 5-5; FLC’s errors from Set 1 looked like they were showing up again.
The Mountaineers started to struggle with attack errors, which helped FLC increase its lead to 12-7 before a Mountaineer timeout.
FLC looked dominant once again, especially with its serve in the middle of Set 3. Reyna had a nice ace to put the Skyhawks up 17-8.
Western Colorado made an effort to come back with some nice tools and powerful kills around the net. However, the Skyhawks never lost their composure and closed the set out with a kill from Freymuth for the 25-18 set win.
FLC stays at home to play Colorado School of Mines on Friday at 6 p.m.
