The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Lake superior down the stretch, better in Mentor
A sluggish finish to Lake Catholic’s three-set defeat at Magnificat on Aug. 20 carried over into the Cougars’ trip to Mentor on Aug. 24. The Cardinals claimed the first set and put Lake Catholic in an early hole. When Coach Rob Cline made a defensive adjustment and his players began to adhere to his game plan, the Cougars tied the match in the second set. Then,
THE SCORE LAKE CATHOLIC 3, MENTOR 1
senior Taylor Resetar notched six kills in the third and sophomore Jessica Wilson dominated the fourth as Lake Catholic defeated Mentor, 3-1, to earn its first win of the season.
Wilson was on the bench earlier in the match after miscues in service and defense. A mental boost from her teammates helped the 5-foot-11 right side hitter focus.
“My teammates really helped me a lot,” Wilson said. “They got me out of the mindset of ‘Oh, I’m not doing well.’ I thank them for that because I wouldn’t be able to come back like I did if it wasn’t for them.”
Senior setter Maddie Stayer helped the Cardinals open a 1-0 lead with a 25-23 victory in the first set. She put away the final three points of the game with a kill and back-to-back aces.
Tied 18-all in the second set, Lake Catholic scored seven of the next eight points to tie the match, 25-19. Resetar posted six of her team-high 11 kills, with no errors, in the third set as the Cougars cruised to a 25-15 victory.
Wilson recorded three kills, two aces — including one on match point — and a block in the final set to secure Lake Catholic’s first win of the season.
Wilson finished with nine kills and junior outside Norah Vargo added eight. Middle hitter Ainslie McLaughlin finished with seven kills and four blocks.
Senior setter Katy Yopko was outstanding in the back row with 36 assists and 24 digs.
Wilson saw time in Cline’s rotation as a freshman in 2018 and sparked the Cougars in their regional final victory over Gilmour. Consistent performance akin to her play in the fourth set will be vital to attract attention away from McLaughlin and Resetar.
“It’s very important,” Resetar said. “It takes a lot of pressure off of us, and we need all the help we can get. She stepped up. I’m proud of her.”
“When she got in that last set, I thought she was real dominant,” Cline said. “Smart shots, changing her approach, a lot of different things.”
Cline was also impressed by freshman libero Emma Briganti, who he inserted in the second set. Briganti notched a handful of aces and registered 17 digs. As far as Cline is concerned,
the starting libero job now belongs to Briganti.
Mentor fell to 0-4 as the Cardinals concluded an arduous first week of the season.
Mentor dropped matches to strong competition in Beaumont, Nordonia, Riverside and Lake Catholic. Moreover, junior Sam Garrett, who Coach Sam Weaver expected to be a
key part of her offense, was injured in the team’s first match.
Weaver saw flashes of quality performance from her team during its first four matches, but errors played a recurring role in the Cardinals’ season-opening losing streak. The negative impacts of errors were amplified by Mentor’s challenging schedule.
“These first four games, they didn’t have time to breathe,” Weaver said. “They’ve got to go, and they’ve got to play everyone at the same time. I think the four teams we just saw, we’ll see again in the playoffs. I’m hoping we got the jitters out now, we get into conference, we start putting some things together and hopefully make a change.”