Fort Lewis College volleyball tweaked the recipe slightly and cooked up a championship Saturday in the Oklahoma Panhandle.
The Skyhawks won the Oklahoma Panhandle State University Aggie Challenge title after winning two games Saturday.
They took down Northwestern Oklahoma State in the morning game and re-matched Sterling College – an NAIA school – in the championship game.
Sterling College beat FLC on Friday in four sets, but the Skyhawks returned the favor in a 3-1 (25-22, 25-19, 19-25, 25-23) win for the championship.
FLC head coach Kelley Rifilato moved the team away from a 5-1 offensive system with Delaney Scanlan setting and worked freshman Kendra Swackenberg into a 6-2 formation with two setters on the floor.
“We played two setters and put bigger blockers up front,” Rifilato said. “That worked all day for us.”
FLC also moved senior middle blocker Shelby Lehman to the right side, where she was able to line up against opposing outside hitters.
Lehman finished with seven kills.
Freshman outside hitter Matisse Monty again led FLC (3-1) with 10 kills, and fellow freshman Gabriella Hickman had eight kills.
“We had a lot of freshmen playing again. They were very composed and starting to build a lot of confidence,” Rifilato said. “We were able to attack out of the back row and the front row with those freshmen. It kept Sterling’s defense guessing at the net. We’re still inconsistent offensively because we have two setters trying to run a new system and trying to figure out who our hitters are.”
With one road tournament down, FLC can now turn its attention to the CSU-San Bernardino Coyote Classic Friday in San Bernardino, California.
They’ll face the No. 16 team in the NCAA Division II in California State, San Bernhardino and three other teams from tough West Coast conferences.
“I think they’ve built some confidence. There’s a lot of trust within the team in terms of who’s playing side by side, and the communication is definitely there,” Rifilato said. “The freshmen were pretty quiet the first couple weeks because they’re trying to fit in. Gabby Hickman and Matisse Monty had a fantastic tournament, both of them.”
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