It was sophomore night for the Lakeland Lakers and they came ready to play as they completed a season sweep of the Terra State Titans. On Friday, the Lakers beat Terra 3-2 on the road in a hotly contested match; tonight, the Lakers took care of business in a convincing 3-0 victory by the scores of 25-17, 26-24, and 25-16. In game one, the teams essentially traded points as neither team was able to make a run early. With the score tied at 13, Kaitlynn Minarik had a block to put the Lakers up 14-13. After a Titan side out, they then hit a long serve to give the Lakers the lead back at 15 -14.  On the next play, Terra was going for a kill, but saw the Lakers block coming. To try to avoid the block, they hit it wide to give the Lakers a 16-14 lead. Terra then took advantage of an unforced error and a ball that went off a blocker to knot the score at 16. The Lakers then went on a run. On the next play, Jordan Morman hit a kill to regain the lead for the Lakers at 17-16. Minarik then struck again as she hit a kill shot for a 18-16 Laker lead. Avrie Shenkel followed with a kill giving the Lakers a 19-16 lead before Astianna Coppes hit an ace for a 20-16 lead. After a side out from Terra State, Minarik hit an ace for a 21-17 Laker lead. Lakeland would score the next couple of points as the Titans tried to avoid the blocks and hit returns long. With the score at 24-17, the Terra would go for a a kill to get back in the game. The Lakers Jordan Morman answered with a nice block to close out the game. 

Game 2 was similar to the first game as the teams traded points early. Trailing 13-12, Kaitlynn Minarik would hit a kill shot to knot the score. On the next play, Erica Merth hit a strong shot to the back row that was not returnable to give the Lakers the lead. Avrie Shenkel then hit a shot across the court in the front row to give the Lakers a 15-13 edge. The Titans would rally to tie the score at 15 and then hit a long serve to give the advantage back to the Lakers at 16-15. On the next play, the Titans again tried to avoid the block of the Lakers and would hit it long. Terra would then be called for a double hit as the Lakers lead grew to 18-15. After a sideout from Terra, Erica Merth hit a rocket for a kill on an assist from Astianna Coppes. With the Lakers leading 19-16, the Titans would hit a shot destined for a point until Allison Hendrick made an outstanding dig. The ball then went to Merth who quickly tipped it over for a 20-16 Laker advantage.  The Titans would then get a sideout and take advantage of a pair of Lakeland unforced errors to trim the Laker lead to 20-19. Astianna Coppes would then hit a kill to the center of the court to push the lead back to two at 21-19. The Titans would make it 21-20 as they hit a ball off of a Laker block. Erica Merth would then hit a tip shot to push the Laker lead to 22-20. The Titans followed with a kill shot and the Lakers would then hit a ball long to tie the score at 22. On the next play, Coppes hit another kill to the middle of the floor for a 23-22 Laker lead. The Titans would tie the score at 23 as they hit another ball that deflected off a block. The next play turned into a long rally as both teams made a couple of nice defensive plays. For the Lakers, Rebecca Ferrell and Allison Hendrick made sensational defensive plays to keep rallies going before Avrie Shenkel hit a kill shot for a 24-23 Laker lead. The Lakers then served into the net to tie the score at 24. On the next play, everyone was looking for Coppes to have a nice set, but instead, she pushed the set to an open spot on the Titan side to give the Lakers a 25-24 lead. Ferrell then hit a nice serve that the Titans scrambled to try and return. As they were going up for the kill, Erica Merth stonewalled them with a block to give the Lakers the win at 26-24.

Game 3 started similar to the first two as the teams traded points early. With the score tied at 7, Jordan Morman hit a crushing kill shot to give the Lakers an 8-7 lead. The teams would continue to trade points until the Laker lead was 14-12. Lakeland then went on a run. Erica Merth would give the Lakers the next point as she hit a nice tip. Lindsey Fergus then hit a strong serve that the Titans made uncontrolled contact with. The ball traveled from the Titan back row to the front row of the Lakers where Astianna Coppes killed it. On the next play, the Titans hitter again saw the block coming from the Lakers and hit it wide trying to avoid the block. Fergus then hit another strong serve that the Titans couldn't handle. On the next play, the Titans were going for a kill when Erica Merth executed another block to give the Lakers a commanding 19-12 lead. Fergus then served another ball that the Titans could not handle cleanly and return. On the ensuing play, the Terra hitter again saw the block of Merth and Coppes coming and so pulled up short hitting the ball into the net for a 21-12 Laker lead. The Titans then took advantage of a couple of unforced errors to close the gap to 21-15. Kaitlynn Minarik would then smash a kill for a 22-15 Lakeland lead. After the Titans hit a ball off of a block for a point, Minarik hit another deep shot to the back row of the Titans that was unreturnable. Leading 23-16, Astianna Coppes hit a hard serve that the Titans tried to return. The ball bounced from the defensive players of the Titans up to the Lakers front row. Jordan Morman was ready and swiftly spiked it for a 24-16 lead. The next play was a carbon copy of the last play; but this time, Avrie Shenkel was there for the kill to give the Lakers the victory.

Erica Merth finished with 9 kills, 6 blocks, 4 digs, and an ace while Astianna Coppes recorded 8 kills, 12 assists, 5 digs, a block, and an ace. Kaitlynn Minarik picked up 7 kills, 8 digs, 2 aces, a block, and 18 service receptions. Lindsey Fergus added 4 digs and 11 service receptions while Jordan Morman finished with 6 kills and 3 blocks. Avrie Shenkel had 5 kills and 2 blocks while Allison Hendrick picked up 11 assists, 5 digs, and 2 assists. Rebecca Ferrell finished with 5 digs and an ace in the Laker win.

Soph's Sayings:

Erica Merth - "I really feel like we had a great season. It was just a great group of girls. We had to overcome some injuries and adversity and we were able to do that and finish the season strong."

Lindsey Fergus - "We played well as a team tonight. We really came together, had good coverage, and great communication."

Kaitlynn Minarik - "I really had a great time this season. I enjoyed playing with the girls - it was a lot of fun."

Astianna Coppes - " I really had a great time and enjoyed playing with the girls this season. I'm so glad and proud of the way we continued to work and come together toward the end of the season."

To all of our sophomores, we thank you for your efforts. You will be missed and we look forward to seeing all that you will achieve in the future.