Lakeview sweeps at home

COLUMBUS - Lakeview volleyball coach K.C. Belitz said he was a little concerned going into the Viqueens' home triangular with Twin River and Madison.

After playing what he felt was Lakeview's best match of the season against Fairbury Sept. 11, the Class C-1, No. 9 Viqueens took the next nine days off.

On Thursday, Lakeview was a little rusty, but did just enough to grab a pair of wins. It defeated Twin River 25-15, 25-20, though it had 17 errors, and Madison 25-10, 25-15 with 18 errors.

“We knew coming in that there was going to be a little rust,” Belitz said. “Nine days is an awful lot of days of not playing. But I know the girls weren't completely satisfied with how they played. They felt like they made too many unforced errors. But the girls are happy to come out of here with two wins.”

In the middle match, the Titans grabbed a 25-17, 21-25, 25-17 win over Madison.

At the start of the triangular, the Viqueens didn't look like the layoff was affecting them as they jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead. The lead stayed at six for the majority of the first set.

Blaine Muhle made her presence known as she recorded three kills and an ace block to give Lakeview a 20-14 lead. The 6-foot senior, who led the Viqueens with eight kills, then served a 4-0 run with an ace serve to help them take the first set.

The Titans fell behind 6-3 in the second set before coming back with a 5-0 run thanks to four straight Lakeview errors and a Cortney Czapla kill. The Viqueens responded and took a 15-11 lead.

A Casey Olsen kill brought Twin River back to 17-16, but a service error gave Lakeview a point and momentum. Morgan Stover came in to serve a 5-0 run for a 22-16 lead, and Lakeview took control of the match.

In the second match, the Titans found success in the first and third sets thanks to their serving with 14 ace serves - Courtney Gottsch had half of those - but Twin River didn't record a single ace in the middle game. That helped Madison take set two, its first set win of the season.

Twin River also had seven hitting errors in the set.

The Dragons jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the third set, thanks in part to five Titan errors. Twin River did settle down to fight back to 8-6, but after a Madison service error, Courtney Gottsch came up with three aces in a row. A kill from Czapla, who had 10 kills in the match, put Twin River up 11-8. The Titans gained confidence after that before slowly putting Madison away.

Twin River coach Julie Strain said the Titans lost a little of their focus in the second set against Madison. The reason for that is they have two seniors on the team.

“We're a young team with two seniors where we can look very good or very bad,” Strain said. “We got out to such a big lead in the first game at 19-6 where we lost (our focus) in the second set. That goes to show in the game of volleyball that anything can happen. I was glad to see them recover and came back to take the third set.

“Against Lakeview, I thought we looked good at times. But when we get down, the kids seem to get down on themselves, and they can't get out of that. Against a team like Lakeview, we can't afford to get down on ourselves. That's been something we have been working on in practice where we are behind, and I try to have the kids find a way to come back.”

In the evening's final match of the night, serving was the key for the Viqueens as they recorded 12 ace serves and allowed only five kills total from Madison. Muhle used two aces in a 6-0 run to give Lakeview a 15-3 lead and never looked back in the first set.

In the second set, Ali Luckey recorded three straight ace serves to build a 7-3 lead. Later Stacy Janssen put up two aces in a 4-0 run for a 12-7 lead.

The Viqueens continued to serve tough and didn't allow Madison to get into any kind of offense, which helped slowly give Lakeview a 23-13 lead and the Viqueens never looked back.

With the 12 ace serves, Lakeview also missed seven and also had 11 errors in the match.

Lakeview will be back in action Saturday at the Aurora Tournament.

The tournament will feature the Class B, No. 5 Huskies, along with Crete, which Belitz sees as being a dangerous opponent, along with Central City, which the Viqueens have beaten already this season.

He said Lakeview has a great chance of doing well in the tournament.

“It will be a great tournament for the kids to compete in,” Belitz said. “We have never won it, and it won't be easy for us to win it. Crete has some wins against some Class A teams, and Aurora always has good teams. Central City lost one of its players in warmups when they played us, so they probably have things worked out now. We will have to play well to win it, but I think the kids are up to the challenge.”

Twin River (6-7) 15 20

Lakeview (9-3) 25 25

n LAKEVIEW (Kills-aces-blocks): Morgan Stover 0-3-0; Stacy Janssen 0-1-0; Blaine Muhle 8-1-4; Brea Muhle 3-1-2; Alexis Henke 0-0-0; Ashley Wurdeman 2-0-3; Bethany Runge 5-0-0; Chantelle Kush 0-1-0.

n TWIN RIVER (Kills-aces-blocks): Casey Olsen 2-0-0; Alyssa Stankoski 0-1-0; Cortney Czapla 4-0-2; Kirsten Cromwell 3-1-1; Danielle Brezina 2-0-0; Courtney Gottsch 1-1-0.

n SET ASSISTS: LV - Ali Luckey 17, Henke 1, Stover 1; TR - Stankoski 11.

Madison (0-9) 17 25 17

Twin River (6-7) 25 21 25

n MADISON (Kills-aces-blocks): Leah Sunderman 1-0-0; Ashley Knapp4-0-0; Emily Deetz 3-1-1; Jody Pfeifer 5-0-0; Hannah Veskrna 4-0-0; Diana Morales 1-1-0; Melissa Knapp 0-2-0; Hannah Scott 1-0-2.

n TWIN RIVER (Kills-aces-blocks): Casey Olsen 4-0-0; Alyssa Stankoski 0-2-0; Cortney Czapla 10-1-2; Kirsten Cromwell 4-3-0; Danielle Brezina 7-1-0; Courtney Gottsch 2-7-0; Ellie Engstrom 1-0-0.

n SET ASSISTS: TR - Stankoski 24, Gottsch 2. MAD - Morales 7, Sunderman 5, Scott 2.

Madison (0-9) 10 15

Lakeview (9-3) 25 25

n LAKEVIEW (Kills-aces-blocks): Ali Luckey 0-4-0 ; Stacy Janssen 0-2-0; Sharla Schreiber 0-1-0; Blaine Muhle 8-3-1; Brea Muhle 3-0-0; Alexis Henke 3-0-0; Ashley Wurdeman 4-0-1; Bethany Runge 6-1-1; Chantelle Kush 0-1-0.

n MADISON (Kills-aces-blocks): Ashley Knapp 1-0-0; Emily Deetz 1-0-1; Jody Pfeifer 1-0-0; Diana Morales 0-1-0; Melissa Knapp1-0-0; Hannah Scott 1-0-0.

n SET ASSISTS: LV - Ali Luckey 18, Schreiber 2, Bl. Muhle 1; MAD - Leah Sunderman 2, Morales 1.