The Lake volleyball team and fan base celebrates its sweep over Clyde in the Division IV district final at Gibsonburg Thursday. (Scott Grau | Sentinel-Tribune)
GIBSONBURG — Lake volleyball is going dancing at the Lexington regional tournament for the second year in a row thanks to thier district championship win Wednesday.
Pitting Flyers against Fliers, Lake improved to 19-7 by sweeping Clyde 25-23, 27-25, 25-14 in a Division IV district final at Gibsonburg High School.
Lake coach Amy Vorst says, along with winning an outright Northern Buckeye Conference for the fourth straight year (and fifth straight championship when including sharing title with Eastwood in 2020), a district championship was high on this year’s list of goals.
Last year the Flyers went down and defeated Western Buckey League champion Lima Shawnee in a Division II regional semifinal only to lose to the state’s No. 2-ranked team, Gates Mills Gilmour Academy, in the regional final.
This year the divisions are expanded from four to seven across Ohio, but Lake will still be making the over two-hour trip to Lexington again. Vorst says it is worth it.
“It’s a haul but we’re excited to get there,” Vorst said. “This is the icing on the cake right here.”
In a regional semifinal at 8 p.m. next Thursday, Lake will play the winner of Cleveland Heights Beaumont and Cortland Lakeview, who are playing their district final Saturday, . The regional final is slated for Saturday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m.
In Wednesday’s win over Clyde, Lake sophomore middle hitter Mylah Vorst led the offense with 17 kills and senior middle hitter Keira Magers had nine kills.
But defeating a team like Clyde (17-8) meant keeping points alive, and that was primarily the job of the defense, which met the challenge.
“I’m very proud of our defense,” coach Vorst said. “That is the best defense we’ve played all year. We had good ball control, serve-reception, and the kids never got down or frustrated. They shook it off. They did a phenomenal job — great team win right there.”
Lake sophomore outside hitter Laynie Meadows had nine kills, but she also responded with 16 digs. Senior defensive specialist Sydney Marchetto led the Flyers with 20 digs, sophomore setter Lucy Boos had 18 assists and 16 digs, and junior setter Savanna Saunders had 18 assists and 19 digs.
“Sydney, (sophomore DS) Calli (Conley) and each of my setters — one had 16 digs, and one had 19 digs,” coach Vorst said. “The defense, to me, was why we won, and they didn’t tip and roll. Our girls came in and we had to get a swing on the ball, and we did. Our girls went nuts.”
Lake senior outside hitter and co-captain Sydney Brown, who is often the scorer after her teammates transfer from defense to its passing game, to its offense, said her defensive teammates take pride in their game.
“Our passing was very good,” Brown said. “We do a lot of hard work at practice, and we all try our very best to make our defense work well, and we all came together. They put in a lot of effort in defense.”
The first two sets were nailbiters as each team walked a tightrope to the finish, but the Flyers came away with consecutive two-point wins to go up 2-0.
Clyde senior outside hitter Lily Ball’s kill tied the first set at 23-all, but Mylah Vorst responded with a kill and the Flyers won the set on a Fliers’ out of bounds hitting error off a serve by Boos.
Clyde led the second set, 23-22, but a kill by Mylah Vorst tied the score and an ace from Conley sent Lake into set point, but a block by Clyde junior middle hitter Brooklyn Hemminger tied it again.
Mylah Vorst had another kill to put Lake back up, 25-24, but Clyde sophomore setter Kelsey Ray responded with a kill to tie again. Lake got back-to-back kills from Meadows and sophomore right side hitter Kennedy Falkenberg to win the set.
Even when the Fliers, with an “i” responded, sometimes because of errors by Lake, the Flyers, with a “y”, never put their heads down.
“I know we all have each other’s backs in these tough situations — we come together and make sure we have each other’s back — let each other know that if even if you do make a mistake, it is OK,” Brown said. “We are going to continue, and the game is not over until it’s actually over.”
A kill from Mylah Vorst put Lake well ahead, 21-11, in the third set and the Flyers from Millbury cruised to an 11-point win.
It helped that after Lake defeated Sandusky Perkins in four sets on Monday in the district semifinal, Vorst and her coaching crew got to scout Clyde’s win over Bellevue.
“We watched them after our match on Monday and we knew what they had,” coach Vorst said. “We knew their setter (senior DeLani Durst) — that could be the best setter we’ve ever faced. She is phenomenal.
“No. 20 (senior OH Lauren Harrah) and No. 12 (Ball) on the outside were great players. No. 3 (senior DS Mallory Eastby) in the back row was a great player. No. 1 (Hemminger) in the middle was a great player — we knew what they had going in,” coach Vorst continued.
“I think our kids were dialed in and hungry and I think that’s why they were successful.”
