UPDATED: Lady Lakers win sectional title

The Shakamak Lady Lakers celebrate their third sectional title in a row after defeating Clay City in four games Saturday night at Jasonville by posing with the trophy and the ball they used to secure the victory.(By Rick Curl/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

That's because the host Lady Lakers successfully defended their sectional crown with a 25-22, 12-25, 25-15, 25-19 victory in the championship match.

It was the third sectional crown in the school's volleyball history and their third in a row. But it didn't come easy.

"It was an accomplishment to beat Clay City, they're a firepower team at the net," SHS (21-9) coach Jeri Morin said. "My team had a hard time getting their hands on their spikes.

"They were defensively one of the hardest hitting teams we've faced all year. They will be a threat for the next years to come, they have loads of talent."

That talent had led to a Clay City victory over the Lady Lakers during the regular season.

"I think a lot of people thought that Clay City was going to walk away with it tonight just by the way we played them last time," Morin said. "I think the girls' hearts were in it and that's what it takes to win a ball game, especially volleyball."

On Saturday night, Shakamak left little doubt about how much of an influence that loss would eventually have on the title tilt.

"We were ready for them, if we were to play them two nights from now we could beat them," Clay City coach Cindy Gerber said. "We have the team and I told the girls we have the talent -- but volleyball's a mental game and it catches you."

Mental or not, the momentum of the match shifted midway through the third set when the Lady Lakers, who failed to use the momentum they earned by winning the opening set, reversed the tide on the Lady Eels.

"We stayed focused, stayed in the lead and took control of it," Morin said. "That was definitely the turning point. In the third game when we were down and fought back the momentum stayed in our court and I'm proud of that."

Clay City jumped to a comfortable lead in game two and overcame their own mistakes, including an illegal substitution call that erased a pair of points, and appeared to be ready to cruise into the third set building a 6-1 lead before a stunned Shakamak crowd.

"I don't know why, except that our nerves were so bad that we couldn't get over it," Gerber said about the shift in momentum that was about to prove fatal to her team's title hopes. "We just couldn't pull ourselves back together."

A series of small mistakes combined with a spark from Shakamak sophomore Mikayla Crane and senior Marki Collins began to slowly tip the balance of match into the Lady Lakers court.

"We've been working on down balls and hitting from the back row and that was a big key tonight," Morin said. "(Along with) them (Collins and Crane) swinging as much as they did, something they didn't do the last time we played Clay City. I'm very proud of those two."

A net violation and a pair of kill attempts into the net by Clay City's Lynsey Higgins and Brielle Drelick narrowed the gap to 6-4 ahead of kills by Collins and Holli Moore that knotted things up.

"We gained momentum totally and they kept losing theirs," Crane said. "We just kept our confidence up and fueled it."

Shelby Hane gave the Lady Eels what would turn out to be not only their last lead of the set, but of the match as well.

A service error by Higgins combined with a kill attempt by Drelick that went deep handed the lead back to Shakamak -- a lead that was never seriously challenged again in game three and was evened only once in the decisive fourth set at one-all.

"We came with the mindset of we're in it to win it," Morin said. "And with the exception of the second game, the three that we won we were in control, kept hitting the ball and found their weaknesses."

Crane and Collins were catalysts for the Lady Lakers offense and senior setter Amanda Gilbert was the fueling point.

"The momentum completely switched in the third game," Collins said. "We started getting down balls and did really good. Our hitters starting hitting good and that means a lot in this game. We got our momentum back."

Gilbert's 26 assists led to 16 kills from Crane, three from Collins, 10 from Stacey Durham, four from Moore and one from Riley Montgomery.

"Amanda played some smart ball," Morin said about her floor leader. "That's why she's a four-year varsity letter winner. She's smart and she knew where to take it. She did good, I'm really proud of her."

While Collins and Gilbert worked in tandem setting up the front row, Crane and Durham were busy keeping the Lady Eels defenders working to stay in the match -- something they were ultimately unable to do.

"Stacey Durham really stepped up tonight with some very good hits," Morin said. "She did just a magnificent job."

Two areas that were prominent during the championship match came at the service line and in serve receive for Shakamak.

As a team the Lady Lakers were an impressive 82 of 86 with four players -- Moore (10 of 10), Gilbert (15 of 15), Crane (12 of 12) and Collins (16 of 16) -- all having perfect nights.

Those serving numbers only added to the team's confidence according to Morin and spilled over into serve receive.

"Our defense had a good night as well," Morin said. "Our serve receive has been about 70 percent and I know we were probably at least about 90 percent tonight -- you've got to have the receive to set up our hitters."

The win marked the third sectional crown for Morin in eight years at the helm of the Lady Lakers and the third in four years for Collins.

"Three in a row, that's nice," Collins said. "Three in a row is momentum and volleyball's a momentum game, I'm very proud of us."

The next stop for Shakamak will find them at South Decatur High School in Greensburg for regional play where they'll take on Edinburgh (28-6) in the first semifinal ahead of a match between Indianapolis Lutheran (18-16) and Rising Sun (27-7).

"To have three sectional wins in eight years, I'm pretty proud of that," Morin said. "Next week we've got to go in with the mindset that we can do it and get it done. I'm really proud of the girls and everyone's effort."

Action begins at South Decatur at 11 a.m. with the championship match scheduled for 7 p.m.

Tickets are $5 per session or $8 for both sessions.

Shakamak Statistics

Amanda Gilbert -- 15 of 15 serves, six points, 26 assists, two kills, eight digs.

Mikayla Crane -- 12 of 12 serves, five points, one ace, 16 kills, 10 digs, one block.

Marki Collins -- 16 of 16 serves, nine points, two aces, three kills, 10 digs.

Stacey Durham -- 12 of 15 serves, six points, two aces, 10 kills, seven digs.

Holli Moore -- 10 of 10 serves, five points, four kills, 12 digs.

Riley Montgomery -- 17 of 18 serves, 12 points, one kill, five digs.

Kylee Grissom -- 16 digs.