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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Tye Wedhorn 1
Chris Neal, Shooter Imaging
FLC sophomore Tye Wedhorn finished with 11 kills and seven blocks assists in Tuesday's win over Adams State (File Photo)
2
Adams St. ASC 7-10,2-4 RMAC
3
Winner Fort Lewis FLC 7-11,4-4 RMAC
Adams St. ASC
7-10,2-4 RMAC
2
Final
3
Fort Lewis FLC
7-11,4-4 RMAC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Adams St. ASC 25 21 19 25 10 (2)
Fort Lewis FLC 20 25 25 17 15 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications

Skyhawks edge Grizzlies, improve to 4-0 in five-set matches

DURANGO, Colorado — Hosting their travel partner for a mid-week RMAC matchup, the Fort Lewis College volleyball team edged nearby rival Adams State University in five sets (20-25, 25-21, 25-19, 17-25 and 15-10) Tuesday evening inside Whalen Gymnasium.

The victory moved the Skyhawks (7-11 overall, 3-6 RMAC) to a spotless 4-0 in five-set matches so far in 2019 and, paired with last Saturday's road victory over New Mexico Highlands University, gave FLC back-to-back wins for the first time since Sept. 12-13.

"This was a huge win for us and the girls' confidence. You can see it in their play. I like that, evening through the ups and downs, they found a way to win (Tuesday) against a team that came in with more wins than us in the RMAC right now," said Fort Lewis head coach, Tricia Melfy. "The culture needed to change at Fort Lewis College where this was a program that hadn't won, didn't fight. I've worked hard in the last year to change that dynamic so when we get into these tougher sets the players keep fighting and working. It takes some time for that to be believed and executed. We need these types of wins to really change that culture."

After dropping the first set 25-20 to Adams State (7-11 overall, 4-5 RMAC), the Skyhawks rallied back to earn set wins of 25-21 and 25-19 in succession to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Fort Lewis limited its hitting errors to just 10 combined in the two sets, powering down 25 kills in the process, while the Grizzlies had 19 attack errors between Set Two and Set Three.

The Skyhawks' front row had a lot to do with the errant ASU attacks as they produced 12 total blocks on the evening, including four blocks in Set Two and five blocks in Set Three.

"Coincidentally, our goals as a team before the match was to have 40 or more kills, 70 or more digs and 12 blocks. We met all of them," Melfy said. "Our goal was 12 blocks because that was what we were thinking we'd need, and we got it tonight. When we're focused, we're a really good blocking team."

Sophomore middle blocker Tye Wedhorn led the charge with a solo block and seven block assists to go with 11 kills, tying a season-high for the reigning Second-Team All-RMAC selection.

"Tye had been super frustrated and hadn't played her best yet this year, so we have really been working with her on her psyche. We wanted this to be sort of a breakout game for her," Melfy said. "Tonight was more Tye-like and I think that'll help us moving forward that she knows she can still be Tye Wedhorn.

Senior middle blocker Bailey Longacre paced all Skyhawks with 15 kills on 35 swings, while fellow senior Ohiyah Shirley was the third FLC player in double-figures with 10 kills from the outside hitter position.

Freshman setter Payton Harmann dished out 44 assists to go with four kills and was one of three Skyhawks to finish with double-digit dig totals with 16.

Fellow freshman Kamryn Lopez anchored the back row with 34 digs as the libero and Shirley completed her double-double with 10 digs.

The Skyhawks will look to keep rolling when they continue their current three-match home stand this weekend with matches against Colorado Christian University (7 p.m. Friday) and Regis University (5 p.m. Saturday).

"We've got to take advantage of it," said Melfy of the momentum and home stand. "Friday will be a big match for us and we're super focused on it. I think if we can meet our goals again on Friday, we'll have a shot against Colorado Christian. And then Saturday with Regis, they are one of the best teams in the country and you just have to go out there and compete. I think this team has proven this year that we've actually played pretty well against good teams. If you can be in it playing well, you never know what can happen. We're looking forward to both matches."
 
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