OLYMPIA, WA – No. 17 LC State Volleyball improved to 8-0 on the young season with a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-13, 25-18) of The Evergreen State College (Wash.) on Friday. The Warriors hit at an impressive clip of .344 and were led by 16 kills from Taylor Boyce. Freshman Alba Carpena tallied nine kills with a match-high attack percentage of .643.
LC State remains one of three undefeated teams in the NAIA Top 25 which includes a 5-0 record in Cascade Conference play. The last time the Warriors went 8-0 to start a season was 2010.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Carpena tallied the first kill of the night before a pair by Teagan Scott and Juliauna Forgach Aguilar had the Warriors up 5-3. Boyce added two kills and a swing by Karissa Lindner forced a timeout by Evergreen at 12-7. The Geoducks rallied to take a 15-14 lead before a kill by Abby Beaton and ace by Hannah Dotson had the Warriors back in front 16-15. Four straight kills by Boyce gave LC State a 20-16 advantage and a service ace by Ashlyn Watt added to the run. Boyce capped the six-point stretch with a kill at 22-16. Kills by Carpena and Boyce ended the set 25-17.
Lindner, Forgach Aguilar and Carpena fueled a strong start to the second frame and an ace by Ella Stosich made it a 7-1 lead quickly. Beaton notched two kills and Boyce added two of her own for a 14-5 margin. The outsider hitters stayed hot as Forgach Aguilar and Boyce continued the offensive attack for the Warriors to force a Geoduck timeout at 17-5. Three kills by Carpena had the lead at 21-9 en route to a dominant 25-13 win.
A kill by Scott gave the Warriors a 3-2 edge in the third set and an ace by Forgach Aguilar made it 4-2. Swings by Boyce and Lindner, along with a block by Forgach Aguilar and Beaton, grew the lead to 12-9 and a big swing by Forgach Aguilar made it 13-9. The Geoducks cut the difference to 16-15 but back-to-back points on a kill by Carpena and ace by Kadence Moore pushed the advantage back to 19-16. Another tally by Carpena and Evergreen errors made it 22-16 before kills by Carpena and Forgach Aguilar ended the match with a 25-18 set victory.
STAT RECAP
Boyce led the match with 16 kills on a .480 attack percentage and Forgach Aguilar added 11. Carpena tied her career-high of nine kills with a clip of .643 and no errors.
Scott dished out 32 assists and Stosich had five. Stosich led the defense with 12 digs as 11 different Warriors recorded a dig. Moore collected seven and Scott added six.
The Warriors hit .344 as a team and held Evergreen to .146.
UP NEXT
LC State continues its road trip on Saturday against (RV) Northwest (Wash.) in Kirkland at 4 p.m.
