The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Gilmour opens with a banner performance
Lancers honor senior Randorf, then sweep NDCL in rematch of Division II state final
It was a special night for Gilmour on Aug. 26, as the Lancers revealed the Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year banner for Kathryn Randorf. The senior had a ceremony before their match as the banner was revealed, and just before the first serve, another ceremony was held for the returning players from last season’s state championship team.
“It’s definitely a lot of pressure,” said Randorf. “But I feel like I do very well under pressure, so just being there for my team and them supporting me is the best feeling that I could ask for. It’s really important to me to have had that opportunity to make an impact at Gilmour and being able to hang my banner is a testament to that.”
After the pomp and circumstance concluded, it was time for a rematch of last season’s Division II state championship match, as the Lancers took on NDCL. After Gilmour dominated the first set, the Lions rallied to keep sets two and three close. But wasn’t enough to top the Lancers in a non conference matchup, 3-0.
Gilmour won its first match of the season and moved to 1-0, and NDCL fell to 0-2.
With this being the first match for the Lancers, there were some question marks for head coach Danny Coughlin, especially with the freshmen who were in the rotation.
“We didn’t have a game earlier this week for us to get the bugs out,” said Coughlin. “With some freshmen in the starting lineup, you really don’t know what to expect. There’s variables that you can’t control out there with what they’re going to look like in a game.”
But Randorf was there to support the younger players, reminding them that there were going to be highs and lows of the game.
“I just told them that coming in as a freshman there are going to be nerves,” said Randorf. “Once we start playing just to relax and have a good time. We’re going to have our errors like always, but it’s about composure a lot of the time.”
Gilmour dominated the first set, winning, 25-13. Sets two and three saw momentum change hands multiple times, as both Gilmour and Lancers held the lead at different points. In the third, it came down to the final serves to determine the winner, and Gilmour sealed the job with the final three points.
“We did a better job of keeping in the system,” said Coughlin. “It wasn’t really just one thing that we did differently. We did well in our serve-receive and first and second contacts inside the tempo lines. When you have two teams that can score points at will like tonight, it ultimately comes down to who has the better ball to score a point.”
NDCL has had a tough start to the season, losing its first two matches. Both of their losses have been to teams that reached the state finals last season in their respective divisions.
Lions head coach Tom Ray knows that his team had a slow start to the season in general, but has seen his team maturing quickly as they are challenged.
“We have a lot of new players on varsity,” said Ray. “We treated this as a normal regular season game. The progression that they had in just this match alone was impressive. We had a very late start for practicing and I like the direction that we’re heading in.”
Gilmour will attempt for its second win of the season when it welcomes Lake Catholic on Aug. 31. NDCL looks for its first win of the season when it hosts nonconference foe Hathaway Brown on Aug. 30.