Archive: Sports

The Lansing Girls volleyball team suffered back to back loses for the first time this season and now faces a tough climb to claim the divisional IAC section 4 title. On Wednesday, October 10th the Ladycats took on Class A STAC foe Ithaca in Ithaca and dropped a tough 5 set match. Despite the loss the Ladycats gained valuable experience going up against a larger school, one they had beaten in a tournament hosted by Dryden the Saturday prior.

Despite the setback Lansing took the court on Friday, October 12th, for its rematch with IAC rival Southern Cayuga in Lansing. Right from the start it would prove to be a long night for the Cats. Falling behind early in game one 8-1, Lansing got a serious setback to its team chemistry when one of their senior leaders Keara Lowenhar left the game with a sprained ankle. Despite the large deficit the Cats inched back on the play of their seniors. Shayln Watson, Hannah Armstrong and Jada Gooch led the charge, the latter with a rocket kill to cut the margin to 14-13. Southern Cayuga then scored 6 straight points to expand the lead to 20-13. Lansing again mounted a comeback led by the hard hitting Gooch who had 2 aces and a service point to make it 21-20 the visitors. Senior co-captain Kelsey Thomas fired a Kill to make it 23-21, before Southern Cayuga tallied the final 2 points in a 25-21 triumph.

Game 2 proved to be the best of the night for Lansing who raced out to a early 6-1 lead.  3 straight points by Gooch including 2 aces made it 11-5. Thomas , Armstrong and freshman Katherine Babuka built the advantage to 16-6 with a 5-0 run including two Armstrong Kills. From there the Ladycats keep up their steady play and took the second set 25-14.

Game 3 proved to be the most spirited and intense of the night. Tied at 3-3 and 5-5 Southern Cayuga scored 5 straight to take a 10-5 lead. Coach Brenda Powers mixed up her lineup in this one with contributions comming from juniors Annie Reynolds and Kaleigh Hotchkin and some outstanding hard serves by senior Megan Judd. Back and forth the game went, in total 11 ties and 12 lead changes. Hannah Armstrong tied the score on a return shot at 23. The Cats took their final lead at 24-23 on a Babuka tip over the net. Southern Cayuga, however was playing with a fierce spirit, as they scored the final 3 points of the set in a heart breaking 26-24 victory.

At that point the Ladycats were fighting an uphill battle. Different player combinations could not shake them out of their funk and they fell behind 8-0 in Game 4.  Gooch, Armstrong and Thomas led a mild rally to get the team to within 3 at 13-10. But again the visitors had a response scoring 7 straight points to make it 20-10 and coasted to a 23-13 victory and 3 games to 1 triumph over the Cats.

The loss ended a great streak of 9 consecutive IAC wins for the Ladycats, who still have a chance at the division title. Lansing travels to Whitney Point on Monday, October 15th, followed by an emotional senior night game on Friday, October 19th with the regular season finale set for October 22nd at Union Springs.

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