SPOKANE, Wash. - Lewis-Clark State College took command of the opening day of the Whitworth Volleyball Invitational, defeating the host Pirates in tonight's final match to finsh the day as the only team with a 2-0 record. The Warriors defeated Whitworth 23-30, 30-25, 30-16, 30-19.

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Rusch had 31 kills in two matches for the Bucs

LCSC also won the day's first match, defeating Willamette University 30-16, 30-14, 30-16. Whitworth defeated the University of Montana-Western 30-28, 31-29, 25-30, 30-26 and then Willamette beat UM-Western 24-30, 30-28, 30-26, 31-29.

LCSC (4-2) rebounded from a slow start in the night cap to win in four. The Warriors had 20 hitting errors combined in the first two games, but lowered those numbers to seven in the final two stanzas. Cintia Alessi led LCSC with 13 kills. Sarah Rusch had a match-high 14 kills to lead the Pirates (4-2).

Whitworth won its first match by rallying late in the first two games against Western. The Bulldogs led both games 28-25 before the Pirates rallied. Aisha Snyder had 19 kills for Western to lead all players. Rusch had 17 kills for Whitworth.

LCSC rolled to a win in the first match of the day. The Warriors hit .304 as a team while limiting the Bearcats to a -.008 hitting percentage. Alessi was the only player from either team to reach double figures in kills, with 12 for LCSC. Jessica Durham had five kills for the Bearcats.

Willamette rallied after dropping the first game to defeat Western in four sets. The Bearcats trailed the fourth game 29-23 before scoring eight straight points to win the set and the match. Kelly Lindstrom led Willamette with 13 kills, while Brianna Ternes had 14 for the Bulldogs.

Whitworth and Willamette will play the opening match of Saturday's action with first serve at 10:00 a.m. LCSC and Montana-Western will follow. The final two matchs of the day will be determined by the teams' records through the first three matches.