Pasadena- Victory over the Regents has been a long time coming for the La Salle Lancers. Prior to today, the teams had faced off four times, and each time the Regents had pulled out the victory. Today, La Salle got some long awaited redemption as they sweep St. Lucy's 25-19, 25-17, 29-27.
This pre-season match felt much more like a CIF playoff than an early non-league contest. La Salle had a strong fan contingency, their band, an announcer, and even charged admission. The volleyball did not disappoint. Set one was a closely contested match through the early going. Each point had to be earned by both teams. La Salle started to pull away with a strong middle attack, effective hitting by CK and Hailey DeSales, scrappy defense and a good block. The Regents took a timeout trailing 15-18 in hopes of turning the tide. Instead, La Salle returned with an ace serve by CK and the Regent hitters struggled to find the court around the block. La Salle took set one 25-19, but don't be fooled. The set was much closer than the score would indicate and every point was a battle.
Set two was knotted up until about the mid point, at which time the Lancers took control, stretching their lead to three, 16-13, on a Hailey Desales' ace. CK put a shot down to extend the lead even further, 18-14, and turned to the crowd for applause. With the crowd and the momentum behind them, La Salle pulled away and took set two 25-17.
The Regents had their chances in set three. Loryn Carter started out hot, making the first three Regent kills and putting up a huge block. La Salle caught up to the Regents at 5-5 and the teams stayed together until Roni LaPierre gave the Regents the lead 15-13 with a pretty roll shot over the block. La Salle took a minute talk it over. They fought their way back to a 16-16 tie and sent the Regents to a timeout. Lucy's came out of the timeout and went to work. Bast and LaPierre kills combined to extend the Regents lead 19-16. La Salle took a second time out; during which they chose to run lines. Following the timeout, the Regents' lead stretched to 20-16 when CK's attempt sailed long. A side out and DeSales cross court kill later had the Lancers trailing by just two and with the serve. Unfortunately, one of the Lancer players went down with a knee injury at this point. After the injury timeout, La Salle tied it at 20 when LaPierre's attempt carried long. Bast blasted a back court shot to the left side of the court to grab the lead back. CK pushed a shot off of Rachel Cavanaugh to get back to even. The Regents had a 22-21 edge, which Hailey DeSales erased by blocking LaPierre's tip, and then crushing a shot over the middle. La Salle's net violation knotted it at 23, but La Salle got the ball right back with a chance to seal the deal. Loryn Carter's tip over the block turned La Salle away and LaPierre's back row attack gave the Regents the chance to serve for the set, 25-24. Hailey DeSales tooled the block to extend the game and her ace serve gave the Lancer's their second match point. Loryn Carter put up another BIG block to level it at 26. CK's cross court shot gave La Salle a third match point, but again they did not convert as their kill attempt went long. The Regents double the next ball to side out and give the Lancer's a fourth chance to win the set. This time they put up a serve that was too hot to handle, and ended the set 29-27. It took four meetings to beat the Regents, and four set points to close out the match.
The Regents' record drops to 4-2 with the loss. Tonight's stat leaders were Juliet McClure, 30 assists; Sydney Bast, 15 kills; Roni LaPierre, 9 kills, 10 digs; Loryn Carter 9 kills, 2 blocks; and Sarah Bruchet, 23 digs.
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