The Lakeland Lakers played host to the NJCAA DIII's 6th ranked Owens Express today and dropped a 3-0 decision in Laker Gym. The scores of the match were 25-13, 25-11, and 25-20. Game one started as a tight game early with the Lakers taking a 6-5 lead after an Erica Merth kill on a set from Allison Hendrick. From there, the Lakers had some struggles as they suffered from unforced errors combined with missed serves that put them in a hole from which they could not recover. Game 2 was very similar as the Lakers were close early on with the Express before they slowly pulled away as the game continued. Game 3 turned out to be a battle as the Lakers made some strategic changes. Early in this game, everytime the Express would start to push their lead, the Lakers would answer. Trailing 8-5 with Owens serving, Kaitlin Minarik struck a hard kill shot to narrow the gap to 8-6. Later with the Lakers trailing 11-7, Jordan Morman would put away an Astianna Coppes set. As play continued, Erica Merth would have a block and then kill another Coppes set to draw the Lakers within one at 11-10. The Express would grow the lead back to 13-10 before Minarik hit a back row kill. The Express would answer back and take a 15-12 lead when Merth would hit a nice tip on another Coppes set to draw the Lakers within 2 at 15-13. On the ensuing play, the Express were whistled for a lift. The Lakers would then knot the score at 15 on another kill from Minarik. The Lakers would then just miss on a couple of kill shots as they struck a couple just wide and long. Lakeland was trailing 23-18 when Minarik aced a serve. On the next play, Coppes would set Minarik again for a kill to bring the Lakers within striking distance at 23-20. On the next play, the Lakers just missed scoring as they hit it wide before the Express served out the win. 

Erica Merth led the team with 7 kills and a block while Astianna Coppes finished with 11 assists and 7 digs.

Rebecca Ferrell was the Laker of the game as she had a very strong all-around game. Coach Watts remarked, "Becca had a great game. She dug a lot of balls that gave us many second chances. She also served well - just a nice overall game." 

Watts' Words: "Credit Owens, they are a good team.  We had some chances though and just weren't able to pull through. I was especially pleased with our effort in the 3rd game.  We didn't roll - we fought them and put ourselves in a position to win. We really pulled it together and I was pleased with their ability to adapt to some strategic changes. Just too little too late. We'll regroup and come back ready on Tuesday."

Next Up: On Tuesday (9/12), the Lakers will visit the Jamestown Jayhawks in a non-league match. The game is scheduled to begin at 6:00 pm.