LBCC Roadrunners Fall Early in The NWAC Championship

LBCC started off the NWACs competitive against a talented North Idaho team, but couldn’t carry the momentum into the next round against Highline Community College. This gave them a chance to recover in the losers bracket, but then fell to Tacoma Community College. While the Roadrunners ended their season a bit prematurely, the overall success of the season is much greater and shows a bright future for the program.

LBCC started the weekend playing the North Idaho College Cardinals (26-13 overall, 11-5 conference) in a matchup that went down to the very wire and highlighted a good set of games on the day. The match started with LBCC making a great comeback to win the first set 25-23. The second set saw LBCC lose their groove a bit, getting behind early and losing 25-16.

The Roadrunners quickly honed in, and won the third set 25-18, thus making this the longest game the Roadrunners played since Oct. 19. North Idaho wasted no time to fire back, winning the fourth set 25-22. Finally, LBCC edged out a win, putting the nail in the coffin with a 15-13 victory. Some contributors on the day were the duo of Grace Phillips and Ally Tow, combining for 31 kills and flying around the net.

After beating North Idaho, LBCC advanced to the second round, going against the Highline CC Thunderbirds. LBCC started off hot right out of the gate, winning the first set 25-21. The Thunderbirds never waivered however, standing strong and putting together two winning sets before edging out the win 26-24 in a heartbreaker for the Roadrunners. Ally Tow had another productive game, nabbing 12 kills which led the team.

The Roadrunners would get another shot to stay in the tournament against the Tacoma Titans, but unfortunately fell 2-1. Tacoma started off strong by winning 25-20, but LBCC fought back with a strong 25-18 win. The Roadrunners fought hard in the final set, but gave up a close one 16-14 and ended their season 30-12 (13-1). Maddie Norris provided 30 total assists during the game and set up many shots for her teammates.

Despite the loss, LBCC shouldn’t be judged on the end of their season, but rather on the season overall. The consistency and teamwork the team showed throughout the year was firing on all cylinders. The Roadrunners found ways to carry momentum for huge winning streaks and flat out domination in the final regular season stretch, and never gave up in each loss. What Coach Frazier looks to build at LBCC yields success, and the results show.