Emotional rescue for Dragons

KARL PEARSON
Star Beacon

October 10, 2008 02:32 am

— 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.”
There were other important parts of the game in which the Dragons realized they had to improve.
“We had to communicate with each other,” Rantamaki, who had seven points, said.
Making sure they held up their end in winning at least a share of the PAC was also part of the stakes.
“The girls knew what was on the line,” Newsome said. “Winning the PAC meant a lot to them. Not losing their last home match meant a lot, too.”
“Winning the PAC again is an amazing feeling,” Pugliese said. “I think we proved to a lot of people we’re a lot better than what we thought. Most papers and people around here felt we weren’t as good as last year without (John Carroll freshman) Miranda Newsome.”
At any rate, the Dragons picked up their level of play and gradually worked their way back into the match. Chardon (5-17) managed to hold them off until the game was tied at 18. After another tie at 19, Angela DeGeorge, who led Lakeside with 13 points, ran off four straight points to allow it to pull away. An ace block by junior Christiana Blakeslee, who had 10 points, five ace spikes, five ace dinks and three ace blocks, finished the game.
Chardon coach Julie Kolcum said the Hilltoppers came in looking to pull an upset, but just couldn’t maintain their early pace.
“This is not to cut on Lakeside, which is a very good team, but I really felt we could come in here and knock them off,” she said. “Believe me, if I could figure out why we can’t keep it up and develop doubts, I’d be a genius.
“Lakeside just got going with a couple good plays. It just snowballed from there.”
Fueled by its comeback to take the first game, Lakeside asserted itself in the latter two games. The Dragons charged to the front early in the second game, again behind the serving of DeGeorge, to maintain a lead that stayed steady at 10 points.
By the third game, Morrison got rolling, although the game was still tied as late as 11. Morrison provided two ace blocks and an ace spike and provided five service points to seal the match.
“It took me until the third game to get going,” she said. “The emotions of the night probably had something to do with it.”
Now, both teams turn their attention to the Division I sectional-district tournament at Euclid High School. Both open Tuesday night.
“I told the girls now we have the second season,” Kolcum said. “We’ve got to focus on South and on not being afraid.”
That is the goal of Newsome and her team. The third-seeded Dragons open against Brush, but they have other goals in mind, like trying to make it to the district finals for a second straight year. Riverside, which holds the second seed, likely stands in the way of that goal in a district-semifinal date.
“This was a real good end to the regular season,” Zappitelli said. “Now we want to play Riverside again (after a regular-season split).”
“People have yet to see the real Lakeside,” Villa said.
“That match is going to be a matter of who wants it more,” Lee said.
“The girls learned tonight that from now on they have to play with a sense of urgency,” Newsome said. “We have to play with urgency from now on.”

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