by By: David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications
DURANGO, Colorado— The Fort Lewis volleyball team played two matches Friday during Day Two of the Skyhawks Volleyball Classic, splitting the day’s action with a win over Texas A&M International before falling to No. 4 ranked Washburn University in the night cap.
The Skyhawks (4-4 overall) started the day with a dominate 3-1 victory over the visiting Dirt Devils (1-4 overall), bouncing back from a 25-23 loss in set one to run the table over the final three sets with wins of 25-12, 25-11 and 25-18 in succession.
“For me, the highlight (Friday) was seeing the girls really gel well that first match and us starting to look really good,” said Fort Lewis head coach, Tricia Melfy. “We were just a little inconsistent.”
In the win, Fort Lewis was led by senior outside hitter Ohiyah Shirley (Navajo) with 12 kills and three aces, while junior transfer Alexa Treguboff continued her strong tournament performance with 10 kills and eight digs.
“Alexa was great again and Ohiyah kind of hard a break-out game,” Melfy said. “I thought our ball control was great out of the back row, so we were able to run a really fast offense. We really kind of clicked on all cylinders in that match.”
Senior middle blocker Bailey Longacre was the third Skyhawk in double-figures with 11 kills, while sophomore Tye Wedhorn added eight kills and freshman setter Payton Harmann set a career-high in assists with 44.
Defensively, freshman libero Joviana Romero finished with a team-high 15 digs and fellow freshman defensive specialist Kamryn Lopez added 11 digs.
True freshman Rylee Johnson, making her first collegiate appearance, also tallied seven kills to help aid the Fort Lewis offensive attack.
Unfortunately for the Skyhawks, they were unable to duplicate their earlier performance in Friday’s finale as the fell 25-12, 25-14, and 25-16 to the high-powered Ichabods (6-0 overall).
“Washburn was as advertised. They weren’t making a lot of mistakes and handled what we did pretty well,” Melfy said. “If you can’t pass balls, you’re not going to be competitive and I think we got a little hesitant and on our heels. We didn’t pass the ball well. To me, it was bad effort and I was disappointed in our effort and attitude against Washburn. Win, lose or draw, you have to compete and I don’t think we did that well that last match.”
Shirley led the offensive attack for the Skyhawks with five digs, while Harmann added three from the setters position.
As a team, Fort Lewis committed 17 attack errors and 10 receive errors against Washburn.
Fort Lewis, currently 2-1 overall in the tournament, will look to finish off the weekend with a strong performance Saturday against West Texas A&M University.
