Lake senior Sydney Marchetto celebrates a point in Saturday’s straight-set victory over Southview.
By Nicholas Huenefeld
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
MILLBURY — The Lake volleyball team shook off a slow start on Saturday to carve out a 25-16, 25-10, 25-8 win over Southview.
“I think they just kind of went through the motions in the beginning,” Lake head coach Amy Vorst said. “They weren’t mentally focused right away. Once we could string together a few points, they were more in the flow of it, but we needed to get that little run going before they got in the flow of it.
“That’s something we’re going to work on. We need to be ready to go right away and not wait for a run to get going.”
A back-and-forth start saw Lake clinging to a 12-11 lead. A Kennedy Falkenberg termination then highlighted a 5-0 run, and a Mylah Vorst kill capped a run moments later that pushed the lead to eight.
Back-to-back terminations from Falkenberg and Keira Magers put Lake on the brink of claiming the set before an attack error from Southview closed it.
“Over time, we evolved and got better,” Lake’s Sydney Marchetto said. “We started running the offense and scoring efficiently. Our serve receive was better and our overall team connection brought the energy, which led to the execution.”
A kill and a block from Mylah Vorst highlighted a 10-3 run to open the second set. Marchetto then added to Southview’s pain from the service line as back-to-back aces started a 5-0 spurt for a 15-4 margin.
A kill on an overpass from Caity Extine made it 17-7 and forced a timeout from Southview. Laynie Meadows terminated an attack moments later for a 21-9 lead before a hammer from Extine concluded the set.
An ace from Lucy Boos got Lake the first point of the third set, which also started a 5-1 run. Savanna Saunders tacked on an ace of her own, and Vorst smashed home a kill on an overpass for a 10-4 lead, which forced a timeout from Southview.
A 9-0 run moments later featured another kill from Falkenberg along with a pair of aces from Meadows. Lake finished off the match with three straight points, punctuated by an overpass kill from Sydney Brown and an ace from Boos.
“I thought Syd Brown was phenomenal,” Vorst said. “She only had one hitting error the whole match, which is great. I thought we had some good serve runs from Savannah Saunders and Laynie Meadows. I think we served aggressively, and that was a big part of our success.”
Falkenberg, Brown and Vorst led Lake’s offense with six kills apiece.
Falkenberg’s play was a positive sign for Vorst, who said the sophomore’s start to the season was delayed by the medical staff.
“She was so hungry to play,” Vorst said. “Now that she’s back, she’s hungry for the ball. She calls for it every time and makes herself an option. She’s demanding the ball from our setters.”
Boos (14 assists) and Marchetto (13 digs) led the Flyers in those respective categories.
Lake (2-1) will now begin NBC play Tuesday at Genoa before returning home against Oak Harbor on Thursday. Six of their next eight matches are at home.
