Back to Winning; Warriors Dominate Home Tri

Sterling, Kan. – The Lady Warriors hosted a tri this weekend playing both a conference and nonconference match in the Gleason Center. The Warriors front line played exceptionally in the two victories. They beat Friends University in their first match 3-0, and defeated USAO 3-2 in a highly competitive match.

Match 1 – Sterling 3, Friends 0

In the opening match, the Warriors were dominant over KCAC foe, Friends University. Sterling appeared to take advantage of every opportunity as they made quick work of the Falcons. The first match was played evenly to 11 points before Sterling went up 5 with a 16-11 lead. Friends tried to claw their way back in but Sterling kept them at arm's length, before closing out the set 25-22.

Sterling took a quick 11-3 lead in the second set before pushing the lead to 11 points a couple of times throughout the set. The Warriors had the game well in hand at 20-9 before Friends went on a little run towards the end before Sterling closed things out at 25-19. The Warriors were up 2-0.

Sterling completed the sweep jumping out to an early lead once again. Sterling's largest lead of the set was 8 points a couple of times. Friends put another late run together to cut the lead to 5, but Sterling won the set 25-20, never really being threatened.

Sterling was dominant in all phases of the game. Sterling had more kills, fewer errors, and better hitting percentages than the Falcons. As a team, the Warriors hit .336, their highest team mark in any match this season. Emily Peterson led the Warrior attack with 14 kills hitting an incredible .480 at the net. Aliya McClanahan scored double-figure kills as well with 10, and added 4 blocks. Lindsey Kauffman led Sterling with 8 digs, getting the start at Libero. Aubrey Young had a season-high 40 assists in the match.

Match 2 – Sterling 3, USAO 2

The second match of the day was much more highly contested against the USAO Drovers. This match played all 5 sets and the two teams had scored the same amount of points heading into the 5^th set.

Sterling came out hot taking a 10 point lead early in the match. Sterling was up 15-5 and almost coasted to the set win at 25-18. The closest the match got after the early Warrior surge was 6 points. The feeling in the gym was that Sterling was going to get a quick win with how they played in the first game, going against a USAO team that just took a loss to Friends.

Set two was very tight as neither team put on an extended run at any point. The set was tied at 15 before USAO found a way to pull away. At 24-18, Sterling put together a 3 point run, but at set point, it was too little too late and the Warriors dropped set two 21-25.

Set three was another barn burner as the match went back-and-forth to a 19-19 tie. Sterling won six of the final eight points to win the third set 25-21 and take the 2-1 lead into the final set.

USAO came out firing with their backs against the wall and took six of the first seven points, forcing Sterling to play from behind most of the set. Sterling cut the lead to three at 13-10 before USAO won five straight points opening up an 8 point lead. The momentum was in favor of the Drovers as they completed their set four win, 25-18, and the two teams headed into the decisive fifth set.

USAO had the edge when the two teams switched sides with an 8-5 lead. After the switch, Sterling took the next 3 points to tie the match at 8. With the momentum shifting, the teams tied at 10 and 11. The Warriors battled to win four of the last five points to win the final set 15-12. Sterling came away with the 3-2 win at home.

The Lady Warriors played some of their best volleyball during this match. Peterson led the way for the Warriors with 18 kills and hitting .436, and McClanahan followed right behind with 16 kills and hit .361 from the middle, adding 5 blocks. Paige Borges also had double figure kills with 12 from the outside and hit a respectable .242 from the outside, and added 2 blocks to compliment her middle hitters. Young tallied back-to-back season highs in assists with 50 more assists in the USAO match. Kauffman, Chelsea Coleman, and Makenna Linden had 20, 15, and 10 digs respectively.

Sterling climbs to 13-7 (3-4) with six games left to play in the regular season. They currently sit in the number 8 spot in the KCAC with the top 8 teams to host at least one postseason game. Sterling is on the road next week taking a bye on Wednesday and playing at Southwestern next Saturday at 12:30 pm.

Be sure to check for news and updates on Sterling Warrior Athletics on Facebook (/SCWarriors), Twitter (@SterlingCSports), and Instagram (sterlingcsports), as well as the hashtag #SwordsUp. Watch all of the Warriors' live home events on the Sterling College Sports Network.