ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP —
With the Lakeside and Edgewood volleyball teams searching for identities, the teams battled through five tough games Tuesday night at Edgewood.
The Warriors survived for a 25-18, 18-25, 25-13, 21-25, 15-7 victory.
“Holy Moley, this took an effort and a half,” Edgewood coach Dave Fowler said. “In our scrimmages and preview, and again tonight, we haven’t played well when we are behind. The girls play much better if we are making good passes, but it took having Katie Thomas to come through for us late in the match to pull us through.”
Thomas had spurts of dominance at the net, but asserted herself a bit more midway through the third game. She made a number of great plays and had a bit of good fortune in slamming home 11 aces on 21 of 29 spiking and blocking 11 balls, nine for aces.
Thomas had four of those kills and a block in the fifth game as Edgewood (1-0) rode a seven-point run with Jaime Rogers serving to take a 3-2 lead up to 10-2.
Alyssa Johnson added some support for the Warriors with three ace spikes on 8-of-9 spiking and four blocks.
“Katie (Thomas) really came through late in the match for us,” Fowler said. “She put a couple big shots down and then had that one that hit the top of the net and rolled down the other way for a point that was huge.
“Alyssa Johnson is only in her third year of volleyball, too, and she was tough at the net when we needed her to be. I felt we did well in our preview and scrimmages, but tonight we started out shanking balls and playing tentatively. Our seniors really stepped up in the late part of the match, though, and put in a great effort that the young girls caught on to.”
The Warriors were a bit tentative in the early going.
“We played like we were scared in the early games, like we were nervous,” Fowler said. “Everybody picked up the intensity, though, and this was a very good win for us.”
The young Dragons couldn’t come back, as they had after the first and third games.
“We’re a young team,” Lakeside coach Norm Potter said. “It’s amazing to see how far we’ve even come in the last five days. We started out slow tonight. We didn’t do well in our preview, either. I just didn’t see the effort, but after that third game, the girls realized they were able to stay with a good team, the seniors picked it up and the younger girls got into the match and we played really well.”
Shelby Smith paced the Dragons in that fourth game, finishing the match with seven ace spikes and nine blocks.
Sound passing from Emily Gehring and Paige Halsey allowed the Dragons to keep the ball alive late in the match to set up Sharisse Hunt and Smith, and the Dragons clawed their way back to the final game with a 25-22 win in the fourth game.
That fourth game was the only game of the match in which Lakeside scored well from service, as Smith and Lexi David each tallied four points and Halsey and Alissa Patterson each added three. Smith had four of her blocks in that game as the Dragons opened a five-point lead midway through the game and held on to win.
Potter saw many positives for his young team.
“When we play with energy, we are a totally different team,” he said. “That Thomas girl for Edgewood got hot in the fifth game and made some great plays, but then our seniors showed some pretty good leadership of their own to bring us back. I’m really proud of how we played. We made way too many errors early, but never quit. My girls are tough-minded. Several of them needed some ice after the match because they played so hard, and to me, that is a very good sign.
“It means the girls care, and the way we came back after that third game showed me a lot about all of them. I wanted to play Edgewood right away to see where we are because they’re a good team all the time. We played tough and that should help us the rest of the season.”
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