Lakeland volleyball wins over Lake Gibson in districts
LAKELAND — The No. 11 volleyball team in Class 6A took care of business in the district semifinals Tuesday night at Lakeland High School.
The Dreadnaughts won in straight sets, 25-13, 25-21, 25-18, over the Braves — a team that had just won over Kathleen in the first round of the Class 6A, District 7 Tournament.
Senior outside-hitter Carissa Michel put up 14 kills and 18 digs. Junior outside-hitter Erin Miller racked up 15 kills and eight digs. Sophomore setter Caroline Mank put up 17 assists.
With the win, this is the sixth time in Lakeland head coach Dayna Sechrest’s nine years that her team has made it to the district finals.
“Overall we had definitely had our typical players that normally step up in a big way,” Sechrest said. “We got Carissa Michael as well as Erin Miller, both are captains, so they have a higher expectation of them and they typically work their tails off to meet expectations.”
Expectations of the team were the same despite normal libero Skye Gallichan not being able to play because of sickness. Replacing her was junior senior Kate Marshall and Carly Northrup. On offense, they facilitated some passes to run the offense.
In the first set Lakeland trailed by two before junior right-side Sofia Holcomb executed a spike to tie the game at 2. Miller then scored with her spike to give Lakeland its first lead, 5-4 early in the first set.
The Dreadnaughts followed up with an eventual 5=0 run to make it 7-4 Lakeland. Michel then used her athleticism and power to produce much-needed spikes to end the first match with Lakeland’s largest margin of victory.
“We kept our composure pretty well. I was able to see a lot of the court as I went up to the hit; I saw a lot of open spots,” Michel said. “Every time Erin was in the front row I could see open spots where I could tell her. It’s like looking out for your teammates, setting up assists.”
In the second set, Lake Gibson senior Grace Higgins scored the first point, and the Braves went on a 3-0 run.
But a set-up led to junior middle blocker Katie McLaughlin powering a shot to tie the game at 4. The Dreadnaughts would never relinquish the lead in the set after an 8-1 run.
Still, Lake Gibson sophomore Haley Dionne made it interesting with her spike that made the score 22-19, but Mank ended the set thanks to her heads-up hit that led to a score.
Lake Gibson in the third set went up 5-0 early, but Miller finally scored Lakeland’s first point, which balanced the set early on.
“Our blocking definitely improved. We’ve been working on it all week at practice (and) I definitely saw a difference in points off blocks,” Miller said. “I was able to spread out my offense more.”
Mank gave Lakeland an 11-10 lead thanks to her spike. And soon following was a 7-2 run that was a step closer in Lakeland closing the deal.
A Lake Gibson loss was just the second time in Jessie Hopkins’ nine years as coach that the Braves didn’t make it to the finals. But Hopkins said her young team fought.
“I told my girls, it’s not always about winning and losing. It’s about (you showing) up and what you do,” Hopkins said. “Lakeland made us better tonight. They challenged us and my girls stepped up. I’m very, very proud of them.”
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland volleyball wins over Lake Gibson in districts
