Cougars cruise into regional round with sweep

Teams that didn’t take advantage of catching Lake Catholic before the Cougars hit their stride have probably missed their opportunity.

A team that had a slew of new faces at season’s start, as well as a new head coach, has found itself.

Entering the Division II tournament at Jefferson with a .500 record, the Cougars have won three straight, including a demonstrative 25-12, 25-12, 25-17 win over topseeded NDCL in the district final.

Lake Catholic (14-11), under first-year coach Rob Cline, is headed to the regional tournament on Nov. 1, when they will play the winner of Mantua Crestwood and Marlington in a 7:30 p.m. bout.

The other half of the bracket features Gilmour vs. Richfield Revere at 6 p.m.

“We played pretty well today,” said Cline with a smile. “In the first set, we only have two errors. That’s gotta be a record for us this season. Yeah, we could get a little more efficient, but I think we played pretty well today.”

And top-seeded NDCL (12-13) didn’t, marred by serving mistakes and servereception miscues.

Against a team like Lake Catholic at the district final level, it meant defeat.

“We couldn’t get any kind of rhythm going,” lamented NDCL coach Tom Ray. “That mental edge, they kept the pressure on us and we couldn’t find a way to flip it.”

Lake Catholic was on its game from the get-go, using precise serving, exceptional passing and a varied offense attack that kept NDCL’s young lineup on its heels.

Lake Catholic led, 5-0, in the first set before NDCL got on the board. Even though the Lions scored first in the second set, the Cougars ran off five in a row to take the momentum for good, and in the third set, a 9-3 run turned a tight 6-5 score into a blowout.

NDCL’s only lead of the afternoon was 1-0 in the second set.

Jumping up early on the Lions was Lake Catholic’s intention. After splitting the regular-season series each team won on the other’s court - early control was paramount.

“We knew that’s what we wanted to do from the beginning,” said senior Ashley Browske. “We knew if we could get on them right from the start, we’d have the momentum the whole game and we could win. That’s what we did.”

Browske was a royal pain for the Lions all day. Not only did she have a matchhigh 12 kills, but she also dictated what NDCL did serving. When the Lions tried to avoid her, 14 serves went either out of bounds or into the net.

“Serving and serve-reception. That two most important things in volleyball,” Ray said of his team’s bugaboos. “Ashley puts a lot of pressure on you. You don’t want to serve their best player, and she stands right in the middle of the court. When they control the ball like that, they’re very hard to beat.”

Lake Catholic’s varied offense gave NDCL troubles, too. Aside from Browske’s 12 kills, Ainslie McLaughlin had eight (as well as numerous touches on blocks) and Kylie Snyder had five.

“I’m very proud of that,” Cline said of his team’s attack. “We have to be diverse. If I can get a few (kills) out of each kid, it’s hard. You can’t take everything away. We spread the ball around pretty well.”

NDCL got six kills and 15 digs from Hanna Bissler, along with 10 kills from Missy Sterkel.

The Lions, heavy on underclassmen, vow to be back.

“A learning experience, for sure,” Ray said.