Lake-Sumter State College’s Women’s Volleyball defeated Oakland Community College (MI) in round two at the NJCAA Division II National Championships in Charleston, W.Va.
The Lakehawks defeated the OCC Raiders 3-0 in today’s match-up for the team’s first-ever win at Nationals.
Today at 4:30 pm, the Lakehawks will take on Catawba Valley Community College (N.C.) Red Hawks. The winner of this match will continue to the 9th place match, scheduled for 9:00 am on Saturday, Nov. 17.
All tournament games will be streamed live on njcaatv.com.
Game recap provided by Lakehawksports.com:
It took a few points by the Raiders before LSSC got going in set one. Tied at 11-11, Lake-Sumter put it in high gear going on a scoring frenzy to take a 21-14 lead. Oakland CC was not going away easily and battled back to within two, 21-19, before Head Coach, Amanda Phelps called a timeout to reset her troops. Up 24-21, the Raiders stayed alive after a controversial call and got within one, 24-23. On the serve by OCC, Gabriela Hernandez made a perfect set to Emma Gray who slammed home the set winner.
Set two was the type of play you would expect to see at Nationals. Both teams trying to throw the hardest punch, going back and forth throughout the set. Up 13-7, the Lakehawks could not get away from the Raiders who proceeded to go on a 5-1 run, bringing the score to 14-12. The score would remain close all the way through the end. Tayln Allard took over in the final moments notching two kills in the final four points for the 25-19 victory.
Jumping out to an early 6-1 lead, LSSC looked poised to end the match in three sets. Oakland CC was able to tie up the set twice at 16-16 and then again at 24-24, but would never take the lead at any time. With Lake-Sumter holding onto the slimmest of leads, 25-24, the Raiders went up for the kill and a combination of Kameron Johnson and Allard sent the ball straight back down to the floor for the set-clinching block.
Gray continues to show why she is one of the best players in the country with 14 kills, 12 digs, and two assists. Allard totaled 16 points and 10 digs of her own while Amanda Berecz notched a match-high 18 digs. Hernandez tossed up 38 of the team’s 42 assists in the win.
