- By Alison King
- Sports
In the Newark Valley match, Lansing won the first two games handily, but then had a mental letdown and needed five games to nail down the win (25-14, 25-17, 24-26, 22-25, 25-18). Though plagued by errors, the team pulled together and showed it could deliver in a crunch. Highpoints included Brooke Burke’s 9-point serving streak in game one, which included 4 of her 6 aces. Desi Burke and Ashley Schuster had 4 service aces each, and Nicolo Gentile had 3. Desi’s 18 assists fueled the offense, led by Ashley, Brooke, and Tory Cutting, with 10, 8, and 8 kills, respectively. Kari Fenner led the defense with 29 digs, also contributing 6 kills.
At the weekend tournament of teams from the central New York region, Lansing won every game until the final match against Dryden – a good opportunity for both teams to scope out the competition. In Tuesday night’s IAC match, Lansing surpassed its earlier performance (0-3) against the experienced Dryden team.
Lansing coach Amy O’Brien said, “They played fantastic.” Lansing’s Ashley Schuster had 5 aces, 5 kills, and 2 assists; Brooke Burke had 2 aces and 7 kills, and Taylor Bandler 7 assists. The Bobcats put it all together in a sizzling game three. When they’re hot, they’re hot! However, Dryden came back with a vengeance in game four, winning the match 25-16, 25-18, 13-25, 25-13. Lansing has shown flashes of brilliance and now will work on sustaining that fire throughout their matches.
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