HELENA, Mont. – It was clear, the 4-seed University of Providence volleyball team did not want today to be its last match of the season. The Lady Argos came out firing and despite a drop-off in the third set, handled 5-seed Lewis-Clark State College in the first round of the Frontier Conference Tournament 3-1 (25-18, 25-21, 20-25, 25-17).
 
The two teams had played each other on LCSC's home court less than a week earlier and fell to the Warriors 3-1. UP hit .152 in the first set of that match. Things were much different on a neutral court. 
 
The Lady Argos had 15 kills and 4 hitting errors on 25 attempts and added 3 blocks in a set the controlled they whole way. A more diverse offense made the difference, with five different players earning kills including five with more than 1 kill.
 
"We passed the ball well and were able to establish the middle which was a big part of the game plan. Last time we played LC we set the pins so much that their middles started releasing and we were hitting against two blockers every time," Head Coach Arunas Duda said. "Our goal was to pass the ball well and run the middle and I thought we did that well to start."
 
Making a big impact in the middle of the floor was middle blocker Ember Schwindt. The athletic freshman has earned more and more playing time as the season has progressed she once again proved she is a huge part of the program's future. She finished the first set with 3 kills, and while that tied her with three other Lady Argos for the most in the set, she was the only one to reach that number on just 3 attempts.
 
UP got off to a slow start in the second half and trailed 8-5 but after a kill from Schwindt, sophomore defensive specialist Olivia Snead went back to serve. By the time she lost her serve, the Lady Argos had gone on a 10-0 run and were leading 15-8.
 
From there it was all Argos. The Warriors never scored more than 2 points in a row for the rest of the set and UP looked poised for a straight sets win with a 2-0 lead.
 
That didn't prove to be the case, however. LCSC started the set with a 6-1 lead and this time there was no long run to recover for UP. The Lady Argo's offense fell back into the trap of being predictable in the set and the team hit its lowest percentage of the match at .182.
 
"I think we just got maybe a little overconfident and just slowed down a little," Duda said. "LC was fighting for their lives at that point and they have some good seniors that didn't want to go home."
 
The team regrouped and refocused on the strategy that was working through the first two sets and rebounded in the fourth.  Senior outside hitter Korie Milan had played well all match, but she was at her best in the final set. With no other player getting more than 1 kill in the set, Milan finished with 5 kills and just 1 error on 8 swings to give the Lady Argos just enough offense to win.
 
Along with Milan, the team's defense made the difference. UP had 4 blocks in the set and effected a lot more attacks than that. The Warriors committed 30 percent of their attacking errors in the match during the fourth set, give UP free points on 10 different swings.
 
Those mistakes meant UP simply needed to play clear to win the set, and they did just that with only 4 errors of any kind.
 
Milan led the team with 13 kills but it was the percentage, not the total, that was most impressive. She hit .333 in the match, her second best of the season and the only one better was in her first match of the year where she only played 1 set and had just 5 attempts. She also added 3 digs, and 3 block assists to her totals.
 
A slew of other Lady Argos had big performances, including a great all-around match from redshirt-freshman Lauren Brown. The outside hitter was third on the team with 8 kills but was also second on the team with 6 block assists for a total of 11 points.
 
Schwindt had the highest hitting percentage of any Lady Argo with more than 1 attempt, earning 7 kills on 14 swings with no errors along with 4 block assists.
 
Senior Josee Pendleton led UP with 7 block assists, and junior libero Tymerie Vincelli led in digs with 14. Freshman setter Ava Larkin had a  team leading  23 assists and a  team leading  3 aces along with 8 digs.
 
As a team, the Lady Argos hit for .277 the team's best percentage in against a conference opponent and best in any match since a September 1 win over Menlo College.
 
UP's most likely second-round opponent will be 1-seed Montana Tech, but if either 7-seed Montana Western or 6-seed MSU-Northern win their opening round match, that could change. The Lady Argos are 1-1 against each Frontier Conference team.