Boys volleyball: Lakes downs Antioch for seventh straight win

It might not go down as a hash mark in the win column, but moral victories are perhaps equally important.

Take coach Jamie Atkinson and her Antioch boys volleyball team, for instance.

The Sequoits have struggled to a 4-14 overall mark, but lessons were learned when Lakes came visiting Thursday evening for a Northern Lake County Conference tilt.

"As a group, we've talked about moving forward," Atkinson said. "Even though it wasn't a win tonight, we could have fallen apart but didn't."

As for Lakes, this team came in pretty hot, winners of six in a row.

Make it seven after the Eagles downed the Sequoits 25-21, 25-16.

"It's a rivalry game of course, so both teams always come out firing," said Lakes coach Kevin Glabowicz, whose team improved to 15-10 overall and an unblemished 7-0 in the NLCC as it looks to reclaim the conference crown it won two years ago.

"You could say we're comfortable being uncomfortable. We ran a faster offense tonight and have been big at the net."

And Lakes has some hitters, too.

Like attacker Ethan Metzelaar, who finished the two-game sweep with 6 kills, 3 digs, and 3 serving aces.

"Antioch always brings the energy, but we have some taller guys and played a very physical game tonight," he said. "Our defense has been excellent and we're shutting a lot of hitters down."

That energy for the Sequoits showed in Game 1 as the Sequoits jumped to a 10-4 lead following a block by John Ware.

But Lakes' serving and hitting took over.

Lakes finally caught the hosts after Michael LeBaron (11 digs) served for 2 points and Metzelaar's kill helped break a 17-17 deadlock.

From there, the Eagles outscored the Sequoits 9-5 and finished Game 1 on 2 service aces by Broderick Solbrig.

"We've had some good serving and nice finishes to games," added Glabowicz. "We knew the first 10-15 points were going to be a battle. But we weathered the storm because we knew Antioch was going to come out on fire, especially at home."

In Game 2, hitting and blocking were on point again for Lakes.

A kill by attacker Connor Clowers (9 kills, 8 digs) tied the game 5-5.

Then, a 14-5 run broke things open and all of the sudden Lakes was ahead 19-10.

Metzelaar had 2 kills and Benjamin Mercure racked up 5 service points to highlight the run.

Fittingly, Metzelaar's kill ended the game.

Kyle Jilly had 3 kills and 4 assists, while Whittall had 3 kills and 5 solo blocks for Antioch, which slipped to 1-5 in the NLCC.

"Lakes has some great hitters that get the job done," added Atkinson. "We did a great job blocking against some bigger guys. But we're adjusting and hoping to jell a little for the second half of the season."