The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Cougars settle in, topple West Branch
Lake to face Marlington in district final
It was a feeling out process. And for Lake Catholic, a win at this stage in the postseason always feels great.
With the way the tournament bracket was realigned due to COVID-19, there are teams playing opponents they do not see often. As result, it is of little surprise that it took about a set for Lake Catholic to get comfortable with West Branch.
After losing the first set by two points, the No. 5 seed Cougars (12-7) defeated the No. 7 Beloit West Branch Warriors, 25-27, 25-19, 25-16, 25-14, in a Division II, Northeast 2 District Semifinal on Oct. 28 at Lake Catholic.
Lake Catholic moves on to
LAKE CATHOLIC 3, WEST BRANCH 1
play No. 2 seed Alliance Marlington (17-7) in the district final.
West Branch (17-7) made the 70-mile trip north to play the host Cougars and to start, made the trip worthwhile. The Warriors went ahead, 4-0, and left Lake Catholic coach Rob Cline no choice but to call a timeout.
As it would turn out, even though the Cougars lost the opening set, that four-point lead was the most West Branch went ahead all night.
“We didn’t feel like we were playing the way we normally play.
“This year, it is a bit different with the district. We are not very familiar with them at all. Who knows what the kids feel about each of the teams,” Cline said after the game. “Normally, when we’re out at Jefferson, we know everybody out there.
“We coach some of the same kids in junior Olympic-ball. It might have been a little bit of a feeling out. Kind of like a boxing match. We were just figuring each other out.”
Lake Catholic quickly figured out its opponent.
After West Branch won the first set, the Warriors never held onto the lead again. As the match continued, Lake Catholic kept gaining momentum.
The Cougars went ahead in the second stanza, 13-8, in thanks to a kill by senior Cameron Gabele.
Lake Catholic scored six of the final eight points in set two, a sign from the Cougars that their best was yet to come.
At one point in the third game, Lake Catholic went on an 8-0 run, which built its lead to 14-3. Shortly thereafter, the Cougars were in front, 23-10 — the largest lead of the night.
However, the Warriors had some fight left, as they responded by scoring five of the next six points. A miscommunication at the end of the third allowed Lake Catholic to claim a 25-16 victory.
“We started to get the ball to the setter and were playing a little bit faster. I thought when we played fast, we gave them problems,” Cline said. “They’re
a pretty good defensive team. We had to hit the ball pretty hard to get it by them.”
Luckily for Lake Catholic, senior Norah Vargo was striking the ball over the net so often, she nearly accounted for a quarter of the team’s total points. Vargo led with 24 kills and also contributed a team-best 17 digs.
“We definitely eliminated our errors and got a lot more kills, which hyped us up a lot,” Vargo said. “It got us a lot more excited for the game.”
Once the f ourth set came around, Lake Catholic was settled in and playing with plenty of excitement. The Cougars put behind a poor finish in the third game by replicating West Branch’s start to the match (4-0). With being able to play free and in the driver’s seat, Lake Catholic never allowed the Warriors
to score more than two straight points. They closed out the final game by outscoring West Branch, 16-8.
“Once you get on track, I am very analytical with the numbers. I was talking to my assistants about the numbers we hit in game two and game three. I hadn’t even looked at them after we dropped the first set,” said Cline. “I started to realize we were hitting the numbers. If we kept playing that way, we were going to be hard to beat.”
In the fourth set, Lake Catholic held the advantage in kills (13-8), aces (20) and blocks (2-0). Sophomore Emma Briganti led the team with four aces. Gable had a team-best three blocks.
“We did a good job of getting a lot of aces and getting them out of the system. That really helped us,” said Briganti.