The Lakeland volleyball team played host to Cuyahoga CC today in OCCAC action and dropped a tightly contested 3-1 (22-25, 21-25, 34-32, 16-25) decision to the Triceratops. In game 1, the Lakers fell behind 9-5 before battling back to tie it at 10 after an Avrie Shenkel kill. The teams would trade points until an Alyssa Lino block for a point and a Sydney Park kill would put the Lakers up 16-14. The teams would trade service errors before the Lakers regained the 2 point lead at 18-16 following a Taylor Williams-Stevens block. Tri-C would score the next 4 points as they took advantage of 2 unforced Laker errors, a kill, and a block that fell just wide of the court. Lakeland would then score the next 3 points to retake a 21-20 lead on the strength of their defensive play. Tri-C would then score on a tip and a Laker error to re-take a lead that they would not relinquish as they won 25-22. Game 2 started out with the teams trading points early. With the score tied at 8, Tri-C took advantage of some unforced errors and strong kills to grow a 5 point lead at 15-10. The teams would continue to battle with Lakeland cutting the deficit to 2 points three different times. The first time was on a Sydney Park kill down the line. The second time was after a long rally where the Lakers defended until Tri-C hit it wide. The final time was at 20-18 after a long rally and another Park kill. The hustle play of the game was made by Samantha Winter as she was running away from the net on the sideline - about 10 feet out of bounds - she hit a ball backwards that went back in play and rolled on top of the net briefly before dropping in for a point. 

Game 3 was a marathon. The Lakers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead on the strength of a pair of aces from Rebecca Ferrell. Tri-C battled back as they made some strong plays at the net to rally and tie the score at 7. Both teams would trade points with Tri-C taking a 12-11 lead before Taylor Williams-Stevens hit a couple of aces around a Tri-C error to give the Lakers a 14-12 lead. Avrie Shenkel then hit a kill for a 15-12 Laker lead. Tri-C would then score on a couple of blocks before Shenkel had another kill to put the Lakers up 17-14. The Lakers would then serve long before Park had a kill for an 18-16 Laker lead. The teams would trade points before Park had another kill to put the Lakers up 20-18. Williams-Stevens then defended strong at the net and Tri-C hit it wide to put the Lakers up 21-18. Following a Tri-C kill and then wide serve, Williams-Stevens scored a point with a tip for a 23-19 Laker advantage. Tri-C cut the lead to 23-22 following a pair of kills and a block before Avrie Shenkel scored on a tip for a 24-22 Laker lead. Lakeland then committed an error and just missd on a kill attempt down the line to tie the score at 24. Sydney Park then rifled a shot from the backrow that couldn't be returned for a 25-24 Laker lead. Tri-C tied it on a tip before Park hit another kill to regain the lead at 26-25. On the ensuing serve, the Lakers went for the win, but the serve was called just long. Park followed with another kill to put the Lakers back up 27-26. Tri-C then had a kill and the Lakers committed an error to give the visitors a 28-27 lead. Taylor Williams-Stevens followed with a kill to tie the score at 28 before Tri-C committed an error to put the Lakers up 29-28. After the teams battled with a very long rally, the Lakers hit the ball long to knot the score at 29. Tri-C then made a block at the net to go ahead 30-29. Avrie Shenkel followed with a tip at the middle to tie the score again at 30. After Tri-C committed an error, they hit a kill to put the score at 31-31.  On the ensuing play, Tri-C made an error to put the the Lakers up 32-31 before Lakeland served long again to tie the score at 32. On the next play, again the Lakers defended well with several digs and strong play at the net before Tri-C hit it long to put the Lakers back up 33-32. On the next play, Rebecca Ferrell hit a great serve that was not handled cleanly by Tri-C. The ball struck a player and bounced up toward the top of the net where Alyssa Lino put it away for the point and the game.

In game 4, Tri-C took advantage of some early Laker errors to take a 10-5 lead. The Lakers were never able to recover as the teams traded points for most of the rest of the match.

Lakeland's stat leaders include Sydney Park who recorded 19 kills and 4 digs while Avrie Shenkel finished with 12 kills. Taylor Williams-Stevens finished with 8 kills and 3 block assists Rebecca Ferrell added 4 aces and 5 digs. Zoe Babnik finished with a team high 13 digs while Samantha Winter led the team 35 assists. Estella Dotson picked up 4 digs while Alyssa Lino was involved with 4 blocks during the match.

Players of the Game with Coach Watt's Comments: Samantha Winter - played very strong defense, ran the floor and set well all game

Taylor Williams-Stevens - she continues to grow as she gains confidence at the net - getting more and more blocks and kills

Rebecca Ferrell - her defense was solid and her serves were good

Sydney Park - played extremely hard and is just strong all-around; very supportive of everyone       

Watts' Word: "We work extremely hard and continue to get better. Everyone has remained positive. When we don't get the final results we want - that can be difficult - but they are just really a great group - everyone contributes in some way. We will get back at it tomorrow and get ready for a tough weekend road trip."

Next Up: On Friday (9/27), the Lakers will travel to Piqua, OH where they will face off against the Edison State Chargers in a 5:00 pm match. On Saturday (9/28), the Lakers will continue their road trip at Hocking College against the Hawks in an 11:00 am match.