SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A familiar foe will greet the Fort Lewis College volleyball team when they start the 2018 season in Utah. The Skyhawks travel to Salt Lake City to face Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) opponent Westminster to start the Westminster Griffins Classic Friday and Saturday.
FLC will go against Westminster on Friday at noon and then will face Truman State out of Missouri at 5 p.m. later that day. On Saturday, a regional matchup with Lubbock Christian at 9:30 a.m. will start the day and to close the classic they will face Minnesota State University-Mankato at 2:30 p.m.
Westminster took both meetings last year, including a tight five-set decision in Durango. The Griffins then claimed the second-to-last meeting of the regular season in Salt Lake City in four sets. Last year was the final transition year for Westminster to being full members of Division II. They went 10-16 last year and 8-5 at home. Audrey Green paced the team with 361 kills, Taylor Gustafson was the top setter with 828 assists, Megan Gallegos added 348 digs and Amara Spere sent back 67 blocks. Green is the only returner, as the other three all graduated.
Truman State went 17-15 last year before losing in the first round of their conference tournament. Jasmine Brown led the team in kill with 335, Savvy Hughes dished out 1,169 assists, Lauren Wacker posted 585 digs and Natalie Brimeyer sent back 153 blocks. Hughes, Wacker and Brimeyer return to the team this year, while Brown graduated.
Lubbock Christian went 10-17 last year falling in the first round of their conference tournament. Lauren Zoller had 258 kills, Brynn Warnack dished out 577 assists, Kelsie French had 645 digs and Jaiden Kennedy sent back 83 blocks. All four return to the team this season.
FLC will close the classic against MSU Mankato who went 15-13 last year and play in the ultra-competitive NSIC. Sydney Powell led the team in kills with 234, Micayla Porter had 581 assists, Mara Quam tallied 421 digs and Anissa Janzig sent back 70 blocks. Porter, Quam and Janzig are all back for this season.
All four teams opened the season this past weekend. Westminster went 1-3 out in Daytona Beach, Fla., as their one victory came at the end of the tournament against Shaw, 3-0. Truman State had a strong start to the season as they went 3-1 in Warrensburg, Mo., picking up a pair of wins over nationally-ranked #4 Florida Southern and #14 Arkansas Tech. Lubbock Christian traveled to Canyon, Texas and went 2-2 with victories against Emporia State and Eastern New Mexico. Minnesota State went 4-0 tallying wins against Kentucky State, Edinboro, Ohio Dominican and Southern Indiana.
The Skyhawks are coming off of a 9-17 season and will enter the new season with a new head coach in Tricia Melfy. Junior Bailey Longacre is back after leading the team in kills with 223 and in blocks with 88 in 96 sets played. Senior Maddie LeBlanc adds a second-best 222 kills and was third on the team in blocks with 69 in 96 sets played. Senior setter Kendra Swackenberg dished out a team-high 865 assists in 96 sets last year. Along the back row, senior defensive specialist Megan Graefe had 504 digs in 96 sets.
In the RMAC last year, FLC ranked fourth in blocks per set (2.08), which was also good for 63rd nationally. They finished sixth in the conference in overall team blocks (200) and were seventh in digs per set (15.96). Individually, Swackenberg ranked seventh in the RMAC in assists per set (9.01) and was eighth in total assists (865). Graefe led the conference in digs per set (5.22), which ranked 52nd nationally, she was also third in the RMAC in total digs with 501. Longacre was ninth in the RMAC in blocks per set (0.86).
Live video and stats will be available for all four games. Following the four games in Salt Lake City, FLC will return home to open the RMAC slate on Friday Sep. 7 against Chadron State at 7 p.m. and then against MSU Denver the next night at 5 p.m. inside Whalen Gym.
