The Weekly Lancer: LCC pushes Richard Bland to five as fall sports hit full stride
Week of Sept. 7-13, 2026
KINSTON — Lenoir Community College volleyball found some of the fight it had been searching for Saturday.
It just wasn’t enough to finish the job.
The Lancers pushed Richard Bland College to five sets before falling 3-2 in a Region 10 matchup, 25-22, 21-25, 25-14, 19-25, 10-15.
LCC took two of the first three sets and appeared to have control after a dominant 25-14 win in the third. Richard Bland answered in the fourth before closing the match with a 15-10 victory in the deciding set.
For freshman setter Kylie Jones, there were positives in the way the Lancers competed together, even if the final result was not what they wanted.
“I think our highs really had to do with how well we play together,” Jones said. “We been struggling a little bit on trying to play as a team and playing together.”
That chemistry has become a point of emphasis for a young Lenoir team navigating the heart of its Region 10 schedule.
Jones said the Lancers have also made an effort to strengthen those relationships away from the court.
“I think talking to each other,” Jones said. “We are trying to team building ideas like we went and eat breakfast with each other this morning, but today it just didn’t go our way.”
Saturday’s loss came two days after LCC was swept at home by Cape Fear Community College.
Cape Fear defeated the Lancers 25-14, 25-14, 25-20 Thursday, hitting .326 with 38 kills. Peyton Hogan finished with 12 kills while hitting .500, Rose Eklund added 11 kills and Liberty Ipsen had 20 assists.
Individual statistics for LCC were not posted in the Cape Fear box score.
The two losses continued a challenging portion of the schedule for Lenoir after its 7-0 start.
LCC’s recent stretch includes a 3-0 win over Pitt Community College, a 3-0 loss to Fayetteville Tech, a five-set victory over Louisburg, a 3-0 win over Guilford Tech, the Cape Fear loss and Saturday’s five-set battle with Richard Bland.
Against Richard Bland, though, the Lancers showed they could compete with one of the top teams in the conference.
Lenoir won the opening set 25-22. After Richard Bland evened the match, LCC responded with its strongest set of the afternoon, taking the third 25-14.
Richard Bland entered the weekend 3-0 in conference play and 8-4 overall and has controlled the recent series with Lenoir. The Statesmen swept LCC in Kinston in 2022 and again during a 2024 conference meeting.
Saturday was considerably different.
LCC took Richard Bland all the way to a fifth set and was one set away from picking up one of its biggest victories of the young season.
Jones also evaluated her own play after the match.
“I have some stuff to work on,” Jones said. “Some balls are not going to be the best but some were pretty good.”
Jones has been one of the centerpieces of LCC’s young lineup. Through the available statistics entering the weekend, the freshman had 225 assists, averaging 9.00 per set, along with 21 aces.
Fellow freshman Kaydee Hunter had 99 kills, averaging 3.96 per set, along with 100 digs and 18 aces. Alivia Whitleyhad added 96 kills while hitting .242.
Those totals remain incomplete because several recent LCC individual box scores have not yet been posted.
One of Lenoir’s strongest statistical performances came Sept. 1 against Pitt. The Lancers recorded 46 kills, hit .292 and finished with nine aces in a 25-19, 25-17, 25-18 sweep.
Against Fayetteville Tech, Lenoir managed 29 kills and hit .061 in a 17-25, 13-25, 26-28 loss.
The Lancers return home Wednesday, Sept. 16, to face Wake Tech at 6 p.m.
Baseball opens busy fall schedule
Lenoir Community College baseball is also back on the field, beginning a fall slate that runs through late October.
According to LCC’s released Fall 2026 baseball schedule, the Lancers were scheduled for two games Saturday, Sept. 12, at Fayetteville Tech, facing Southeastern Community College at 10 a.m. followed by Fayetteville Tech at 12:30 p.m.
LCC then returns home Sunday, Sept. 13, to face the Carolina Cubs at 11 a.m.
Those games are part of Lenoir’s fall exhibition schedule and do not represent the start of its official 2027 spring record.
The schedule gives coach Gary Smith’s group plenty of opportunities to get work in over the next six weeks.
LCC is scheduled to host ECA on Sept. 17 at 2 p.m. before traveling to Campbell University on Sept. 25-26 for four games across two days. The Lancers will face Wake Tech and Fayetteville Tech on Friday before meeting Wake Tech again Saturday.
Lenoir is then scheduled to host the Carolina White Sox on Sept. 26 at noon.
October includes trips to Mount Olive University, Morehead City, Coastal Carolina University and Grainger Stadium, along with additional home dates.
The fall concludes with the Lancer World Series Oct. 27-29 at LCC.
The schedule is about development rather than building an official win-loss record, but it gives Lenoir its first opportunity to begin shaping the roster that will take the field when the games count in the spring.
And the Lancers have plenty to build from.
LCC finished the 2025-26 season 28-23 overall and 25-17 in Region 10, producing a .317 team batting average, .454 on-base percentage and .517 slugging percentage.
The Lancers hit 70 home runs as a team.
Charlie Sindahl led the offense with a .461 batting average, 13 home runs and 66 RBI and earned NJCAA Third Team All-American honors in the outfield.
That production belongs to last spring. This fall is about finding out who is ready to help replace it.
For both LCC programs, that makes this part of September valuable.
Volleyball is already learning where it stands against some of Region 10’s best. Baseball is beginning the evaluation process for next spring.
And for the volleyball team, Saturday provided something important even without the victory.
The Lancers went toe-to-toe with Richard Bland for five sets.