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Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Payton Harmann Dig
Maureen Pasley, FLC Athletics
FLC freshman Payton Harmann dives for a dig during Thursday's win over Western New Mexico
2
Western N.M. WNMU 2-0
3
Winner Fort Lewis FLC 3-0
Western N.M. WNMU
2-0
2
Final
3
Fort Lewis FLC
3-0
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Western N.M. WNMU 25 25 22 17 14 (2)
Fort Lewis FLC 17 19 25 25 16 (3)

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

Fort Lewis storms back to stun Western New Mexico in home opener

DURANGO, Colorado — Playing inside Whalen Gymnasium for the first time this season, the Fort Lewis College volleyball team dug out of an 0-2 ditch Thursday night, rallying for a 3-2 victory over Western New Mexico University that punctuated the start of the Skyhawks Volleyball Classic.

Fort Lewis (3-3 overall) struggled out of the gate, dropping the first two sets 25-17 and 25-19 to the visiting Mustangs (2-3 overall). But the Skyhawks stormed back with set wins of 25-22, 25-17 and 16-14 to tie a bow on their tournament opener.

"It was a resilient win for us. We were kind of our of sorts, can't say we were playing our best, but I like how, when we were down two sets, these kids never dropped their heads," said Fort Lewis head coach, Tricia Melfy. "They never gave up and still believed they had what it took and I believed they had what it took. We just had to get back to basics."

Fort Lewis  found its spark in the form of junior Alexa Treguboff, who finished with nine kills and seven digs. The transfer from Glendale Community College didn't post an overwhelming final stat line, but her consistency and versatility allowed the Skyhawks the freedom to play two defensive specialists or two setters on the floor during the comeback attempt.

Freshmen defensive specialists Kamryn Lopez and Joviana Romero each saw time at the libero position, finishing with 12 digs and four digs, respectively.

Fellow freshman Payton Harmann had a strong collegiate debut at the setter position for FLC as she finished with 38 assists, 11 digs, four kills and three aces, while redshirt freshman setter Courtney Bayles also made an impact with three kills, one assist and three digs over the final three sets.

"Alexa Treguboff was doing a great job and I had her on the right side to start and she played well even when we were losing sets. I thought our outside hitters maybe weren't as effective early on as I would have liked, so I moved Alexa over to the outside, which opened up a right-side position," Melfy explained. "That's when I put Courtney Bayles in, who is a setter that, when you put her on the right side in my system, when the other setter digs a ball we have the other setter there to use their hands instead of a libero taking that second ball. That was the big thing; getting Alexa more involved on the outside, using Courtney Bayles — and having two setters does a lot for me — and then that gave me the opportunity to play more defensive specialists."

Offensively, senior middle blocker Bailey Longacre led the way with 13 kills on 29 attempts for a season-best .345 hitting percentage. She also added a solo block and three block assists.

Fellow middle blocker, sophomore Tye Wedhorn, joined Longacre in double-figures with 11 kills on a .286 hitting percentage.

"We're all about the middle here," Melfy said. "We reiterated (after the second set) that we are a middles team and we need to go to Bailey, we need to go to Tye. We need to work those middles. And when we're working them, they're success and we're successful because our middles work hard."

The Skyhawks will now rest up and prepare for a busy Friday, which includes matches against Texas A&M International at 3:30 p.m. and No. 4 ranked Washburn University to cap the evening at 7:30 p.m.

"First of all, I'm super excited to have this tournament. It's an honor and a privilege to bring people here," Melfy said. "Washburn is fourth in the country. Come out and watch volleyball (Friday) night. When you see Washburn play, it's going to be pretty cool to watch. They're one of the top programs in the country and I'm looking to learn and grow from them. We've competed against high ranked teams already and taken sets of them. I'm hoping as we get better over the weekend that we pull out a complete more wins, play a little more consistently, see what we can do against a team like Washburn, and see where we might rate against a top-level team."
 
 
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