LONGVIEW, Wash. — Lower Columbia defeated South Puget Sound 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-20) on Friday. LCC hit .276 with 40 kills while holding South Puget Sound to 24 kills and a .062 hitting percentage. The Red Devils totaled eight service aces, exceeding their season average of 7.91, and recorded seven blocks, surpassing their season average of 4.27. The 40 kills gave LCC 518 for the season, surpassing the 500-kill milestone, and the seven blocks lifted the Red Devils to 54 for the season, surpassing the 50-block milestone.
The Red Devils built an 8-3 lead in the opening set behind early kills from
Ella Eib and
Lauretta Vasi-Tauki'uvea, plus service aces by
Karissa Otterstetter and
Paityn Shove. South Puget Sound moved back within 8-6 on consecutive Isabella Coy aces, but LCC kept answering and reached 15-12 before taking seven of the next eight rallies. Shove served back-to-back aces during that stretch, and
Ashlin Lockman added kills that helped push the lead to 22-13. Shove recorded three service aces, surpassing her season average of 1.0. South Puget Sound later closed the gap to 23-20, but Otterstetter answered with a kill and Eib finished the set with a kill for a 25-20 LCC win.
South Puget Sound built a 5-1 lead in the second set, but the Red Devils worked back behind kills from Otterstetter, Lockman and Eib to tie it at 7-7. After Mary Bobryk put South Puget Sound back ahead 8-7,
Mackenzie Fitzgerald-Thornton tied the set with a kill, and LCC moved in front 10-8 before the teams traded runs to a 14-14 tie. The Red Devils answered from there with a Fitzgerald-Thornton block and an Eib kill for a 16-14 lead, later winning seven of eight rallies to stretch the margin to 23-16 before South Puget Sound pushed the set to 24-21 with consecutive Kylee Phillips aces and a Seine Roy attack error closed LCC's 25-21 win.
South Puget Sound scored the first three points of the third set, but LCC answered with two Otterstetter service aces around a
Kendall Humphrey kill and later moved in front after trailing 5-4. The Red Devils took five of the next six points to build a 9-6 lead, with kills from Eib, Humphrey, Fitzgerald-Thornton and Vasi-Tauki'uvea during that stretch. After LCC pushed the margin to 17-12, South Puget Sound scored four straight points to get within 17-16 before a
Kendal Dean kill stopped the run. The Red Devils stayed ahead from there, reaching 24-19 on back-to-back South Puget Sound attack errors before Vasi-Tauki'uvea closed the 25-20 set win with a kill.
Eib led LCC with a season-high 10 kills while hitting .471 and adding three digs. Otterstetter finished with 17 assists, three service aces, five kills and five digs.
Kamryn Sande collected a team-high 11 digs and added three assists. Fitzgerald-Thornton posted five total blocks, including four solo blocks, surpassing her season average of 0.5 solo blocks, and added three kills. Vasi-Tauki'uvea reached 10 solo blocks for the season, including one in the match.
LCC is 11-4 overall and 5-0 in conference play. South Puget Sound is 7-12 overall and 1-4 in conference play.
Up next, LCC volleyball team travels to Auburn, Washington, to face the Green River Gators on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 6:30 p.m.
