Fort Lewis FLC 9-11,4-6 RMAC

UC-Colo. Springs UCCS 7-12,5-4 RMAC

Fort Lewis FLC

9-11,4-6 RMAC

Final

Oct. 21, 2023

UC-Colo. Springs UCCS

7-12,5-4 RMAC

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	4	5	F
Fort Lewis FLC	18	20	25	25	11	(2)
UC-Colo. Springs UCCS	25	25	23	19	15	(3)

Summary
Box Score

Cole Davis, FLC Photographer

Freshman Alina Nunez (left) had 11 kills in the loss to UCCS

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | 10/21/2023 3:41:00 PM | Angela Roberts, Assistant AD-Communications

Fort Lewis College volleyball falls just short in comeback effort

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Fort Lewis College volleyball team nearly pulled off a reverse sweep on Saturday afternoon but ultimately fell in a thrilling five-setter to UCCS to close out the road trip.

The Skyhawks fell to 9-11 overall and 4-6 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play while the Mountain Lions improved to 7-12, 5-4 RMAC.

Fort Lewis held a slight advantage in hitting efficiency with a .219 mark compared to a .208 clip for UCCS. The Mountain Lions benefitted from 10 aces versus five for the Skyhawks. The teams combined for 165 digs.

Sophomore Ella Butler led the team with 15 kills (.303) to go along with four blocks. Junior Alexis Hobie followed with a double-double, seeing 14 kills and a career-high 19 digs. Freshman Alina Nunez rounded out double-digit scorers with 11 digs while contributing eight digs. Junior Natalia Lambos dished out 45 assists to go along with a season-high six kills. Junior Sarah Wilkey ended the match with 19 digs to lead the team.

The Mountain Lions earned an early lead before a kill off the block by Shea ended a long rally. The Skyhawks were unable to string together points and faced a 14-7 deficit heading into a timeout. Out of the break, Fort Lewis capped off a 3-1 run with an overpass kill from Swenson to make it 15-10. UCCS scored six to the next 11 points to carry a 21-14 advantage late. The Mountain Lions forged ahead, fueled by lights out attacking on the pin, to reach set point. Fort Lewis got one point back, but the set ended at 25-18 with a kill out of the middle.

The Skyhawks saw their first lead of the afternoon early in set two, tying the score with a Shea kill and grabbing a 6-5 advantage on an attacking error. Butler slammed a wrist-away shot for a kill to extend the lead to 10-8, but the home team responded to reclaim the lead with a deep kill out of the middle. UCCS pulled ahead to force a timeout, but Fort Lewis came out of the break with kills by Lambos and Hobie to narrow the gap to 16-14. The Mountain Lions enjoyed a run to extend the lead to 22-17 before a serving error allowed for a side out. A shot down the line made it set point, but senior JJ Curry extended to set with a kill through the block. Another kill from the pin found space in the deep corner to put the home team up two sets.

UCCS carried the momentum into the third set, jumping ahead with a 6-1 lead after a kill was swiped down the line. Lambos snapped the scoring streak with her fifth kill of the match, followed by a cross-court kill by Hobie. Fort Lewis worked to pull within striking distance, eventually tying the score at 10-all thanks to a kill from Butler. The Mountain Lions came back to see a 15-13 edge with an overpass kill sending the teams into a timeout. Hobie smoked a kill cross-court and put another away moments later to allow the Skyhawks to reclaim a lead at 17-16. The home team went on a 3-0 run out of the break before freshman Alina Nunez could snap it with a back-row attack. Then, the Skyhawks enjoyed their own run to take a 23-20 lead. Butler and Shea combined for a block to bring on set point, and Lambos closed it out with a kill.

The fourth set was one of ties and lead changes, beginning with four ties that saw the set knotted at 8-8. Nunez dropped in a pair of kills to get the lead back on two occasions, and the lead extended to 16-12 on an attacking error. The Mountain Lions regrouped with a 5-1 scoring run to force a Skyhawks timeout with the set tied at 17-all. Out of the timeout, Fort Lewis scored four-straight, capped off by a block from freshman Logan Spragg to make it 21-18. The Skyhawks pressed ahead thanks to a run from Hobie at the service like, and Nunez sent the match to a fifth set with a savvy off-speed shot to end the set at 25-19.

The Mountain Lions opened the fifth set with a four-point run to force an early Skyhawks timeout. Butler put away her 13^th kill of the match out of the timeout, but UCCS came back with four straight to go up 8-1. Fort Lewis earned kills from Nunez and Butler after the teams switched sides, but UCCS remained in the lead at 12-4. Wilkey got her team to within five thanks to a service ace to force a UCCS timeout. Butler earned another kill, followed by one from Nunez, but the comeback fell short as a Mountain Lion kill ended the match.

"Our team has a lot of resilience, and it shows in all of the matches where we fight back after being down," said head coach Giedre Tarnauskaite. "We need to be better at starting the battle right away. That is going to be our focus moving forward."

Up Next
Fort Lewis will be on the road again next week for another regional pod, this one on the campus of South Dakota Mines. First, the Skyhawks will take on UCCS at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, October 27. The team wraps up the trip with a Saturday match at 1:00 p.m. versus South Dakota Mines.

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