43
Boardman volleyball outlasts Lakeview in five
Photo
Boardman’s Krista Johnson (13) goes for a kill against the outstretched arms of Lakeview’s Alania Lytle during the Spartans’ matchup against the Bulldogs on Tuesday night at Boardman High School.
By Ryan Buck
BOARDMAN
After the Spartans let a two-game lead evaporate on Tuesday night, Boardman volleyball coach Andrew Wade had a simple message for his team in the two-minute intermission.
Wade’s words mentioned nothing of the size, height or speed advantage his Spartans possessed over All-American Conference foe Lakeview, whom his 12-5 Spartans had humbled in the opening two games.
“The only thing I could tell them was to match their intensity from the first two games,” said Wade, now in his third season at Boardman. “The difference between the first two games and second two games was our energy and maybe a little bit of a complacency thinking we won the first two and the third should be easy.
“Lakeview, give them a ton of credit. They wanted it and they worked hard to come back.”
The Spartans responded on their home court. They opened the fifth and deciding game with an 8-3 run and withstood one final Lakeview (12-3) rally before taking the game 15-9 in a five-game (25-11, 25-17, 23-25, 13-25, 15-9) victory.
A triumvirate of Boardman veterans made their presence felt and a handful of Lakeview miscues led to Boardman’s triumph.
“We came out fired up and had our energy up,” Wade said. “It’s not a skill ‘thing’ but an energy ‘thing.’ We found it in that fifth game to pull out the win.”
Middle hitter and high-flying junior Krista Johnson tallied two points in the game while senior middle hitter Hope Landers capped the fresh start with a winner and senior Amanda Lipke dominated at the net to the tune of two blocks.
Lipke’s height and timing were key for the Spartans all evening. The senior was a force in the opening two games. A prolonged absence in games three and four became more evident when Lakeview rallied.
“We had a rotation where we had [Amanda] up front and she kind of controlled the front row,” Wade said. “She really sparked us so we kept feeding the hot hand. The girls played with confidence knowing she was going to do some things and she worked harder knowing that she was going to get the ball.”
With teammate Amber McMillan serving and her team ahead 3-2 in the fifth game after a Landers kill, two emphatic Lipke winners sparked Boardman for the rest of the game.
The Bulldogs, thanks to key plays from Taylor Casassa, Annie Pavlansky and Whitney Winch up front, battled back to within two points at 9-7.
Boardman capitalized on three Lakeview miscues at the net before Pavlansky converted a kill opportunity at 12-8.
When Johnson unleashed a rocket to the right sideline that no Bulldog could handle one point later, Boardman had all but finished its rally.
Like Wade, Lakeview coach Caitlin Schnurrenberger sent an effective message for her team, albeit two games prior.
“I told them that we could give up and either go down 3-0 or we could come back down and change the night around and they did,” Schnurrenberger said. “Unfortunately we didn’t finish the way we would’ve liked to.”
Winch, a senior and four-year contributor, and Pavlansky, a precocious freshman, matched Lipke at the net and facilitated the Bulldogs’ comeback.
“Our defense and our serve-and-receive really picked up as well as our blocking picked up as well,” Schnurrenberger said. “When those two put up some big blocks, it pushes momentum our way and that’s what they did.”
Johnson finished with 13 kills and setter Katie Platt recorded 35 assists for Boardman. Lipke had five blocks and 10 kills.
For Lakeview, Pavlansky led the team with 18 assists and 15 points. Jensen Silbaugh had 22 digs.