Now that’s how you send off a group of seniors.
The Fort Lewis College volleyball team hit .684 in the third game of its 3-0 (25-23, 27-25, 25-12) win over CSU-Pueblo on Saturday in Whalen Gymnasium to finish above .500 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play for the first time since 2008.
FLC (10-17, 10-9 RMAC) faced game-point in the second game, then rallied to tie it at 24 and win it 27-25.
“If we would have gotten down a little bit in the second game, we would have had a tough time sending them home in four at that point,” FLC libero Jenna Kinzer said. “We have a habit of going to five games, so being able to break that really helps us with momentum going into the RMAC Tournament.”
The Skyhawks clinched the eighth seed in the tournament with its 3-2 win over New Mexico Highlands on Friday and will face No. 1 seed and 13th-ranked Colorado Mines in the first round.
FLC kept itself in the first two games by diving and scrapping for every ball.
The team outdug Pueblo 57-42, forcing the ThunderWolves (10-19, 7-12 RMAC) to take 14 additional swings.
Kinzer led FLC with 22 digs, and Ashley Wells added 13.
“(Saturday night) we played relentless,” FLC head coach Kelley Rifilato said. “We went after balls that were off the block, off someone’s hand, off someone’s shoe – people going after everything.”
That tenacity paid dividends in the third game.
FLC only made one error compared to Pueblo’s five and only needed to take 19 swings compared to 26 by the ThunderWolves.
Wells led the Skyhawks with 17 kills in another double-double, while Hannah Starbuck also cracked double-digits with 10.
FLC will close the regular season on a two-match winning streak and with victories in four out of its last five matches.
Saturday’s win was the final match inside Whalen Gym for Kinzer, Starbuck and Kristin Stephan, the Skyhawks’ seniors.
“It feels good knowing everyone had our backs, and we all worked for each other in that game,” Stephan said.
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
FLC Volleyball
Senior Day
Jenna Kinzer
Hannah Starbuck
Kristin Stephan
Durango Herald
