Archive: Sports

At Southern Cayuga on 9/25, Lansing’s 5’6” Breanna Brann stepped into the shoes of 6’ Tory Cutting, who was sidelined by illness.  Brann was Lansing’s high scorer with a block, two kills, and four aces.  Lansing adapted to its new line-up, with Amber Howser digging in on defense and Nicole Washburn assisting and hitting.  Niki Gain responded to Southern Cayuga’s offense with 11 digs, and seasoned senior Kari Fenner anchored the team with eight digs, seven assists, three kills, and two aces.   

Both teams stumbled early in the first set, when more points were lost than won. Lansing was repeatedly caught napping, as Southern Cayuga dropped tips adroitly behind the Bobcats’ tails.  Then Brann drilled three consecutive aces, the play picked up, and long rallies ensued until Lansing drew ahead to 25-20. 

Smoking serves caused trouble on both sides of the net in the second set.  During an 11-point streak, Lansing created a dominating lead and held it to a 25-18 finish.  The third set was evenly played to the midpoint.  Once the score reached 15-13, Lansing gave up only two points, closing at 25-15.  

At Moravia on 9/29, Lansing had a few communication glitches at the opening of the first set but then purred through to a 25-10 win, giving little hint of the challenges ahead.  Moravia started the second set with a vengeance, rocketing out with two kills and three aces.  Lansing got in the game when a block attempt by Tara Miller resulted in a Moravia error, and Miller then generated three service points.  However, Lansing struggled with errors, and Moravia accumulated a gaping seven-point lead (17-10).  

With a loss looming, Lansing finally shifted into high gear.  Four kills by Cutting, a Miller block, and libero Nicolo Gentile’s deft push to Moravia’s open back corner tied up the set.  Lansing exhibited speed and grit on defense and hammered its attack, while Moravia just managed to keep the ball in play.  The score was fluctuating between a tie and a one-point Lansing lead when Sunah Bong subbed in at the service line.  Two aces, a Howser kill, and a Moravia error brought the game to 24-19 – and a Moravia time out.  Bong coolly served again, Moravia returned the ball, Taylor Bandler sent her set to the back row, and Bong slammed a kill down the outside line…25-19.   

Lansing’s teamwork continued, and the third set had a less dramatic 25-10 outcome.  Through the evening, seven players served aces, and seven had kills, led by Tory Cutting with six.  Gentile and Miller had the highest dig tallies and Bandler the most assists. 

When Lansing faced Southern Cayuga at home on 10/6, Lansing won 25-7, 25-16, 25-14.  The visiting team didn’t really arrive until the second set.  Then Southern Cayuga shifted up a few gears and kept Lansing’s torrent of spikes in play, sustaining lengthy volleys.   Fenner had an excellent night, with three kills, six digs, a block, four assists, and many more sets.  Bandler was also busy setting, resulting in seven assists, as well as two aces.  Kristen Beyea served up four aces, two kills, eight digs, and a block; Miller one ace, three kills, and 12 digs; Howser four kills and a block; Gentile 30 digs, and Niki Gain 10 digs.    

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