SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP — Lakeside volleyball coach Lisa Newsome and the members of the Dragons have dealt with the issue of getting off to slow starts all season long.

That matter cropped up again Thursday on Senior Night and the final Premier Athletic Conference and regular-season match. It took Lakeside the early portion of the first game and a stern pep talk from Newsome to get it going.

With that addressed, the Dragons went on to a 25-22, 25-13, 25-18 victory over Chardon.

That put the finishing touches on Lakeside’s drive to a share of a second straight PAC championship, which it will share with Riverside this time. It also ended an undefeated season on their home court for the Dragons (18-4, 9-1).

Newsome said there were at least some good excuses for her team’s slow start this time.

“Senior Night is always tough, especially having six seniors,” Newsome said of her group of Azaria Lee, Brittany Morrison, Tayler Pugliese, Ashley Rantamaki, Erica Villa and Mallory Zappitelli. “Give Chardon credit, too. They played a scrappy first game.”

The seniors said the Senior Night ceremonies were at least part of the reason for their problems getting untracked, but they weren’t the only ones.

“I’m not really sure what all the reasons are for starting slow,” Pugliese said.

But they knew what got them going.

“The (first) timeout (with Chardon holding a 7-4 lead) woke us up,” Villa, who had 12 points and was 41-of-45 passing in her role as libero, said.

“After that, we picked it up,” Pugliese said. “That, and because we were playing our last game at Lakeside.”

Pugliese was probably the Dragon to get the message most quickly and most convincingly. She led her team with 16 aces on 19-of-20 spiking added 20 aces on 39-of-42 setting, contributed 11 points and also supplied an ace dink.

“I just didn’t want to finish my career at Lakeside with a loss,” she said. “I was going to pull everyone else along if I had to.”

The rest of her teammates decided to go along for the ride. Getting better passing was one of the keys.

“Passing is the key for everything we do,” Zappitelli, who contributed 10 points, two ace spikes, an ace block and a solid night of passing (37-44, 12 aces), said. “We have to have good passing.”