Girls volleyball: Lakes ready for Grant's challenge

It took 20 matches for the Lakes volleyball team to face some real adversity.

The Eagles started the season by running off 19 straight wins, a perfect 19-0 start.

In match No. 20, Carmel handed Lakes its first defeat.

"It was actually good timing," Lakes coach Jenni Floren said of the Eagles' loss to Carmel. "We wanted them to experience some adversity. We wanted them to realize that it's not always easy and that once you get to the postseason, everything's going to be a challenge."

Lakes was certainly challenged in its opening postseason game on Tuesday night in the Grant regional.

The Eagles were pushed the distance by host Grant before pulling out a 25-20, 22-25, 25-11 victory to move to 28-3 on the season. Lakes will now face Stevenson, a winner over Marian Central, in Thursday's regional championship game.

The Eagles, who have already defeated Stevenson twice this season, are out to win their first regional title.

"It hit us hard to lose that (first match)," said Lakes senior outside hitter Erica Grant, a Tennessee Tech commit. "But we needed that to realize that we need to always play hard and keep a level head. And if we were going to lose, I'd rather lose in the regular season than in the tournament.

"It was fun starting out 19-0, though. I don't know anyone else who can say that."

Lakes got off to a good start against Grant, getting multiple kills from Grant, who finished with 16 kills for the match. Teammate Katherine Billetdeaux also had 16 kills, a season-high for her.

"(Katherine) has been a four-year starter. Seeing her evolve into a leader, going from a young 14-year-old to a young adult has been great," Floren said. "And Erica (Grant) has so much power and intensity. She sets a precedent for what that primary hitter should be. She leads with her skills, they set a tone for the rest of the team."

And yet, despite 6 kills from Grant in the second set, Lakes couldn't sweep the match as it did in its regular season matchup with the Bulldogs.

Grant reeled out 7 straight points during one stretch to take command, and to force a third set.

"We did not want to lose," said Grant junior outside hitter Megan Mitchell, who had 6 kills. "We weren't ready for the season to be over and we were playing for our seniors.

"Once we had the momentum in that second set, we kept it. It was a team effort. We showed what we had. But in the third game, there were just some things we fell down on."

The scrappy Bulldogs, who got a team-high 7 kills from senior middle hitter Mallory Harrity, certainly came a long way.

They had just 4 wins at the time of the seeding meeting but finished with a 15-19 record, going 10-2 over a recent stretch. They were also young this season. Two freshmen were getting significant time in the regular rotation.

"It took us a while to get into it," Grant coach Michele Keenan said. "But we started to put it together and tonight everyone was so ready to play and they were so into it.

"To finish the season the way we did: hard, well-fought, together, I'm not ready for this season to be over."

But now that it is, Keenan says she wishes Lakes the best of luck, and will even be pulling for the Eagles throughout the rest of the tournament.

"You know, I used to coach there (at Lakes)," said Keenan, now in her second year at Grant. She came to Grant after coaching the underlevel volleyball teams at Lakes for three years. "Those kids for Lakes were kids I coached. I taught them. I know them well. So it was a very emotional match for all of us.

"I'm happy for them. If I'm going to lose to a team, I'm OK with it being Lakes. Those girls work hard, I respect them and their coaches and everything about their program."

In the decisive third set, Lakes got out to a commanding 12-5 lead and was never seriously challenged the rest of the way.

Setter Rachel Orpano served seven straight points during one stretch. She had 25 assists on the match and Devinn Bell added another 15 assists.

For Grant, Emma Olszowka had 21 assists while Mitchell had a team-high 6 digs.

Stevenson d. Marian Central: In the second regional semifinal match at Grant, Stevenson swept Marian Central, 25-19, 25-21.

"Our hitting efficiency was really good tonight," Stevenson coach Tim Crow said. "Overall, I'd say this was one of our better matches of the season in terms of minimizing our errors. That was really helpful."

Hope Havenhill toped the Patriots with 9 kills on 14 attempts with only 2 errors. Lily Cozzi had 7 kills with 0 errors and Anne Armgardt had 3 kills on 4 attempts with 0 errors.

"Overall, we had 24 kills on 45 attempts with just 6 errors," Crow said. "That's what we've been trying to do all season is be more consistent."

Now, the Patriots (24-13 overall) are faced with the task of beating a Lakes team in Thursday's regional final that has already beaten them twice this season.

"It's hard to beat a good team three times in one season," Crow said. "We are talking to our players about that and we're also going to be watching the film to see how we can change things and do things better this time."