OMAHA, Neb. – It was not the start the Flames were hoping for.
Just one day after being ranked No. 17 in the country in the NAIA preseason poll, the College of Saint Mary volleyball team suffered a disappointing 3-2 loss to Lewis-Clark State College. It was the season opener for both teams.
CSM won the opening set 25-19 and then the second set 25-20 to take the early lead. But in the third set the Flames led 22-18 before being outscored 7-1 by the Warriors down the stretch.
Lewis-Clark used that momentum to win the fourth set 25-23 and then secured the win with a 15-10 victory in the fifth and deciding set.
“I thought we started out strong in the first two sets,” CSM Coach Rick Pruett said. “And even in the third set we were playing OK. But then it was unforced error after unforced error. A lot of our hitting errors were out of bounds which is something we can control.”
The Flames finished with 35 hitting errors and seven serving errors on the night and hit .118 in the match.
“We were playing fearful instead of fearless,” Pruett said. “It’s very frustrating to get reverse swept.”
Azaria Green led CSM with 14 kills, while teammates Liz Henrichson and Grace Werner had 13 each. Setter Miranda Ring finished with a team-high 28 assists and Kaitlyn Busby added 16. Caitlin McCormack tallied 17 digs and Elen Pruett finished with 12.
“A positive was that our middles played really well and led us,” Pruett said of Green and Hendrichson. “And Grace played a good game too.”
The Flames (0-1) return to action Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Concordia Bulldog Bash. CSM plays Oklahoma City in the morning match.
