The Lakewood volleyball team breezed past the Sultan Lady Turks on Oct. 4 behind the exceptional play of Liliya Kibitskaya. Kibitskaya did a little bit of everything during the three set 25-10, 25-22, 25-10 win. In addition to leading the way with 11 service aces, she also finished with six digs and seven kills.
Of course, Kibitskaya got plenty of help from her teammates, particularly setter Peyton Mizell who tallied 19 assists and Aly Stewart who led the team with 11 kills.
The team overcame an injury to first-string outside hitter Amanda Gregory, who rolled her ankle in the pre-game warm-up and participated sparingly throughout the match.
In the first set it was Juliet Dvorak who got Lakewood off to a strong start. She placed an excellent kill to even the score at 2-2 and then quickly followed it up with a service ace. With Lakewood leading 7-3, Kibitskaya took over control of the match with two monster kills followed by four service aces in a row. Later she came through with an excellent mid-court spike to push Lakewoods margin to a comfortable 23-10.
In the second set Tawnya Hulslander made an impression with a solid kill to put Lakewood up 5-2. Amanda Gregory, playing on the injured ankle, came back onto the court for the Cougars and came up with a fine dig with the score knotted at 11-11. Her hard work set up Peyton Mizell for a tip shot that fooled Sultan and gave Lakewood control of the set. Mizell then served four consecutive points for the Cougars but could not put away the pesky Turks. With the score at 24-22 in favor of Lakewood, Hulslander served a low line drive that was a difficult play for the Turks. They managed to create an opportunity for a kill but Stewart blocked the try straight up for the final point of the set.
Stewart and Hulslander both got off to a quick start in game three, finishing several Mizell sets for a 5-2 advantage. Hulslander blocked a Sultan attempt down onto the court for a 10-6 edge. Jocelyn Shafer then iced the game by serving five consecutive points to lead 21-8.
Afterward Kibitskaya was happy about the way the team did but wanted to be sure the group stayed focused.
We have a tendency to slack off in the second set, said Kibitskaya. Were a confident group but we lose focus at times.
Aly Stewart led the team in kills and saw improved performance all-around.
Our focus is better the last five games, said Stewart. We realize we can beat good teams but weve got to play 100 percent.
Coach Monica Rooney appreciated her teams effort but still saw plenty of room for improvement.
We did not serve overall as well as I would like us to, said Rooney. I was impressed by the number of aces, but not by how many service errors we are still having. We need to play our best volleyball in order to beat teams like Archbishop Murphy and Kings.
The victory over Sultan came on the heels of an epic five-set win at South Whidbey, one of the few times in recent memory the Cougars have won at Whidbey.
What we learned from that will hopefully carry over to the second half of the season, said Rooney, and that is that the girls know we can go five sets against a good team and win.