The Fort Lewis College women’s volleyball team entered Friday night having lost four consecutive games, and on Friday night as the Skyhawks welcomed the Western New Mexico Mustangs to Whalen Gymnasium, Fort Lewis’ woes continued as the Skyhawks couldn’t match the Mustangs and fell 3-1.
The final scores were 25-17, 20-25, 25-18 and 26-24. Fort Lewis (5-19, 2-14 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) will no doubt miss the playoffs, but according to head coach Kelley Rifilato, her team keeps fighting despite the losing season. Western N.M. (17-7, 12-4) has already clinched a playoff bid for the RMAC Tournament.
“They never ever roll over and die, and that’s something that can’t be taught,” Rifilato said. “The word of the week was passion, and they play with passion.”
In the first set of the match, the Skyhawks held up the Mustangs for most of the set, closing the gap to 13-11 after Western N.M. built a hefty lead. The Mustangs then went on a 7-2 run to push the lead to 20-13. The Mustangs had too much size up front with junior Shannon Richand Heather Verrill. With the size advantage, the Mustangs put away the Skyhawks 25-17. Junior Delaney Scanlan led the Skyhawks with nine assists in the first set. Freshman Matisse Monty led with four digs, and freshman Maddie LeBlanc had three kills.
“They’re big girls,” Rifilato said. “They don’t hit high, though, they hit low, and our girls were getting hit down low in their arms. My girls made the adjustment to just jump up and let their girls hit right into them.”
In the second set, the Skyhawks started quickly by taking a 4-2 lead. The Skyhawks didn’t let the early momentum go away by going up 15-11 on clever hitting and fortunate bounces. The Mustangs went on a 6-2 run to tie the set at 17-17 when Rifilato called a time out to cool the Mustangs’ jets. The time out did the trick as the Skyhawks went up 23-19 and went on to win the set 25-20. Scanlan finished the set with 18 assists, Monty finished with five digs and freshman Gabriella Hickman finished with six kills.
In the third set, the Skyhawks built a nice lead right off the bat, building a 10-4 lead. The Mustangs, however, slowly came back on Mustang sophomore Kalie Lyle’s powerful spikes.
The Mustangs eventually took the lead at 14-12, and Western New Mexico went on to win 25-18. Scanlan led the way again with 24 assists in the set. Monty led with 12 digs and Hickman had eight kills in the set.
In the fourth and final set, the Skyhawks found themselves down by a large margin from the get-go. Volleyball is a momentum-driven sport so the Skyhawks battled back and pulled within 12-11 and facing elimination. Monty came in clutch with two very important serves to take the lead back 13-12. After a few plays, the Skyhawks battled back from 20-17 to tie the game at 20-20 apiece.
No matter what the Skyhawks had in the reserve tank, they couldn’t answer Rich’s dominant size. But for all of what the Skyhawks could give, it wasn’t enough as Fort Lewis succumbed to Western New Mexico in the final set 26-24. The final set was extremely close with 13 ties and three lead changes. Monty led the final set with 10 kills and 16 digs. Scanlan led the final set with 30 assists.
Fort Lewis is back on the court Saturday night when it welcomes New Mexico Highlands (6-19, 2-13). Fort Lewis beat New Mexico Highlands 3-1 back on Oct. 9.
jmentzer@durangoherald.com
