The Lakewood Lancers are back on top of the Moore League for the first time since 2017. They swept visiting Wilson 25-20, 25-16, 25-14 on Saturday evening, using a powerful offense and a locked-in defense to secure their first league title in four years.
“Continuity,” said Lakewood coach Mike Wadley when asked what his team’s biggest strength was. “The girls work really well together so that’s been helping us.”
Lancers standout senior Laura Williams finished the match with nine kills and three aces. Fatima Hall added to the stat sheet with twenty-three assists, three kills, and three aces. On the opposite side of the net, Meredith Bond led the Bruins with seven kills and four blocks in addition to nine kills from teammate Chloe Pravednikov.
The first set saw a lot of back and forth action between the two teams but Lakewood would jump out to a 16-11 lead after a Lala Hall ace forcing the Bruins to call a timeout. They would come out of the timeout and score three straight points to bring them within two, but a serving mistake stopped their momentum and put the ball back in the Lancers’ hands. Lakewood took a 21-15 lead before Wilson scored again, but it would be too late and the Lancers ended up taking set one 25-20.
In set two, Pravednikov served an ace to tie it up early at four a piece. But that sparked a 6-0 run for Lakewood, forcing Wilson head coach Gerald Aquiningoc to take another timeout. The Bruins would stay within reach throughout the remainder of the set, cutting Lakewood’s lead to only three down the stretch. However, the Lancers would get three kills, two aces, and a block along with some Bruin mistakes and take set two 25-16.
Wilson was able to score the first point in set three on a block from Bond but that would be the only lead they were able to attain in this set. Lakewood used eleven kills, six blocks, and three aces to finish off the Bruins 25-14 in the final set.
Lakewood will try to finish their Moore League schedule without giving up a set with matches against Compton and Millikan this week. Wilson has a nonleague matchup coming up next against Harvard Westlake at home before finishing up the regular season with Millikan.
CIF Southern Section playoff brackets are slated to be released Saturday morning at 10 a.m.—the562.org will have live coverage.
