Two 2-0 leads would not evaporate in two nights for the Fort Lewis College volleyball team.
The Skyhawks beat New Mexico Highlands 3-1 (25-23, 29-27, 21-25, 25-22) on Saturday in Las Vegas, New Mexico, after losing in five to Western New Mexico on Friday night in Silver City, New Mexico.
The scripts looked eerily similar until the fourth set.
FLC (7-17, 4-12 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) jumped out to a 2-0 lead before dropping the third to extend the match to four.
The Skyhawks faced four N.M. Highlands match points in their marathon second set victory. They needed to score three consecutive points to pull out a 29-27 victory.
Two of FLC’s three points came from attack errors, and Skyhawks senior setter Ciara Krening finished the set with a kill.
Whereas the Skyhawks folded in the fourth set Friday, they soared in the fourth Saturday, jumping out to a 14-5 lead.
N.M. Highlands (10-16, 5-11 RMAC) made FLC sweat, though.
The Cowgirls battled back to within one point at 22-21 on an Alicia Moreno kill, but FLC sandwiched a Heather Danny ace in between kills by Stephani Sonka and Ashley Wells to break a two-match losing streak.
Moreno caused the Skyhawks problems all night. She finished with a match-high 24 kills and led the Cowgirls with 12 digs.
Wells was her counterpart on FLC’s side of the net, carrying the offensive load with 18 kills and leading the team with 20 digs.
FLC outhit N.M. Highlands .272 to .219 and outdug the Cowgirls 64-58.
There were two other FLC players with double-digit digs behind Wells: libero Ally Dell’Amico with 17 and Lindley Gallegos’ 13.
Madi Bickle, Rachel Hendrick and Sonka all had nine kills for the Skyhawks.
Danny did most of the setting for FLC with 34 assists, but Krening had 14, as well.
Saturday’s victory was FLC’s first away from Whalen Gymnasium since a 3-2 win over winless Western State on Oct. 3.
FLC will return home for its next match, a 7 p.m. Thursday match against Colorado Mesa – the Skyhawks’ final home match of the season.
They’ll end the year with a road match against Adams State at 7 p.m. Saturday in Alamosa.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
