Game 15
Lewis-Clark State vs. Montana Tech - Homecoming
Saturday, Sept. 20|Butte, Mt. |7 p.m.
Live Video | Live Stats
 
The Montana Tech volleyball team (7-7, 2-0) looks to continue their strong conference play on Saturday when they host Lewis-Clark state at 7 p.m. in the HPER. Fans who attend the football game that day can use their ticket(s) to attend the volleyball match.
 
Digger Rewind
Volleyball went 2-0 last week to kick off Frontier play. The Orediggers started off the week at Great Falls where they defeated the Argos in straight sets, 25-22, 25-23, 27-25. The Diggers were led by junior Sydney Norris who had nine kills and 11 digs in the contest. Alison Lunde chipped in with 18 assist while Kimmy Kavran added 19 digs.
 
Tech returned home on Saturday and made quick work of the defending Frontier Conference regular season champs, Montana State Northern 25-19, 25-18, 25-12. The green and copper forced 21 Skylight errors and hit .458 percent while holding MSU-N to .078. Bailie Cortner and Haley Druyvestein led the way with 11 and nine kills respectively. Junior setter Alison Lunde also added 23 assist and seven digs.
 
Last time vs. The Warriors
The Diggers and LCSC met three times last season, with Tech falling in four sets in all three meetings. The first meeting was in Lewiston, Idaho where Tech fell 24-26, 23-25, 25-19, 21-25. The Orediggers played the Warriors close each set, but were out hit 55-38 while posting a better hitting percentage .101 to LCSC's .088.
 
In Butte, the Warriors outhit Tech 47-34 and completed more kills hitting .147 to Tech's .023 on their way to a 25-23, 25-17, 24-26, 25-18 victory.
 
The third time these two teams faced off was in the first round of the Frontier Conference Tournament. The Diggers took the first set with LC-State piling up 10 errors. The next two frames had the Diggers committing the errors posting 13 and 10. LCSC outhit Tech at the net 61-36 behind Niurka Toribio's 24 kills.
 
Diggers in the Polls
For the second time in as many weeks, Tech volleyball received votes in the Tachikara-NAIA Coaches Poll Top 25. This marks third-year head coach Brian Solomon's second appearance in the poll.
 
The Tachikara-NAIA Coaches Poll Top 25 also featured Rocky Mountian who remains at the top of list at no.1 while Carroll College also represented the Frontier Conference by receiving votes.
 
Scouting the Warriors
Lewis-Clark, 7-5, 2-0, enter Saturday's match with a 7-5 overall 2-0 conference record. The Warriors had a solid non-conference schedule finishing with a 5-5 record. LCSU competed in the Sports Travel Northwest Invitational and Julie Martin Memorial Classic where they faced three ranked opponents.
 
Last week, the Warriors faced MSU-Northern and Great Falls. The Warriors outhit the Skylights .320 to .000 and swept the match 25-19, 25-12, 25-13. LCSC battle Great Falls to a five-set victory, 25-27, 25-16, 25-13, 19-25, 15-12.
 
Leading the way for the Warriors is Desiree Nielson who has 109 kills on the season with a hit percentage of .319. Robyn Schirmer is averaging 6.26 assist per set while Russia Robinson averages 4.13 digs per set.
 
Solomon's Way
Since taking over a team that went winless in the Frontier Conference, third-year head coach has compiled a 42-31 overall and a 17-17 conference record. Solomon went 17-13, 7-9 last season and won 18 matches in his first season at the helm.
 
Up Next
Volleyball hits the road for a two-match swing starting off at rival Carroll College on Sept. 24^th then heading to Billings, MT to face Rocky Mountain College on the 26^th . Both contest start at 7 p.m.

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