A balanced attack helped Lakewood girls’ volleyball win its eighth straight match in a 25-12, 25-17, 25-19 Moore League victory on Tuesday at Wilson.
The Lancers (14-3, 4-0) are currently ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern Section Division 1 after winning the Dave Mohs Tournament over the weekend.
Lakewood coach Mike Wadley said his team has been working on spreading their offense around a little bit more and setter Fatima Hall executed the game plan with 25 assists, four kills and two aces.
“It’s not really about who can swing hard, it’s about who is going to get us the point and who I can trust on the court,” Hall said of the balanced attack. “I believe every hitter on our side can do that, so spreading it around is more about who is blocking on the other side. So really we’re looking on the other side and not really on our side.”
Lakewood senior Shayna Martinez finished with a match-high 14 kills while junior Samarah DaCoud and senior Laura Williams both had seven kills. DaCoud added six digs and an ace while Williams chipped in five digs and a pair of aces.
“I think Laura was on her A game today,” Hall said. “Even with blockers up she was playing smart and hitting off the block.”
READ MORE about Williams and how she’s trying to improve her game before leaving for Oregon State.
Wilson (9-6, 3-2) battled with Lakewood to start each set but fell victim to a few Lancers runs like the 8-0 stretch that swung momentum in the first set when the Bruins were leading 6-2. Chole Pravednikov finished with a team-high eight kills.
“We’re trying to be consistent right now, and I’m glad we’re competing, but we can compete a little bit more,” Wilson first-year coach Gerald Aquiningoc said. “We have a lot of young girls who don’t have big game experience. When other teams go on runs we panic and start to play tense.”
Both teams took advantage of good service and poor receiving with a combined 22 aces in the match.
Wadley said his team was tired but that they need to keep focused through the league schedule.
“We have to make sure people take us seriously,” Wadley said. “If we drop a match it will affect us for the playoffs and we don’t want that happening. We want to be able to control our own destiny.”
Hall said her team is keeping their focus by playing for each other.
“Our motivation is our bench,” Hall said. “We want to play for them so they can get on the court. They’re over here cheering for us so we want to play as hard as they cheer for us.”
Wilson hosts second-place Millikan next Tuesday and Lakewood will host Poly next Thursday to kick off the second round of league play.
