Photo by Sam Thiel Lakeview’s LeeAnn Stensrud (5) and Sierra Plotz (3) go up for a block during their Section 3A Tournament match against Renville County West on Monday. The Lakers defeated the Jaguars 3-1.

COTTONWOOD – The Lakeview volleyball team found themselves in a tight situation during their Section 3A opener against Renville County West on Monday. Despite holding a 2-0 lead in the match, the Lakers allowed the Jaguars to gain some momentum as RCW took the third set and held an early lead in Set 4, forcing a Lakers timeout.

Lakeview coach Hailey Osland gathered her players and told them they just needed to go out and play their style of volleyball.

“I was telling the kids, ‘We’ve got to go out there and we’ve got to play Laker volleyball and be all in, all the time’,” Olsand said. “We couldn’t let their main hitters score for them and we had to go out and block the ball and play our game.’

That’s when Lakeview dug deep and rallied in a big way. The Lakers battled back and took a 12-9 lead before an ace from Destiny Bahn made it 15-9. Lakeview continued to add to its advantage, going up eight at 22-14, but RCW answered with a 6-0 run to make it a two-point deficit at 22-20. The Lakers then got a kill from LeeAnn Stensrud to go up 23-20, and would hold on for a 25-22 fourth set victory to earn a hard-fought 3-1 win over the Jaguars.

“It feels really nice,” Stensrud said. “I’m excited because our team worked so well together. We brought it out and everyone worked so hard for every point.”

The back-and-forth affair was a key storyline between the two teams, which could be seen right from the opening set. Lakeview got out to an early 8-7 lead before more points were traded and Renville County West retook the lead at 16-14 before extending its advantage to 20-16.

The Lakers would showcase their first stretch of resiliency at that point, cutting the deficit to one before a Stensrud kill tied things up at 21. Lakeview went on to take the first set 25-21, as the 9-1 run by the Lakers highlighted the frame.

Looking to continue its momentum, Lakeview controlled nearly every aspect of Set 2, turning a 5-4 lead into a 14-8 and later a 19-12 advantage. The Lakers continued to roll on both sides of the net, pushing their lead to 22-16 before claiming the second set with a 25-18 victory.

Stensrud, who had 18 kills to lead the way for the Lakers, said their key on offense was their confidence to swing at the ball and play with a positive attitude and lots of energy.

“We weren’t afraid to swing; we were swinging hard and everyone was talking to each other,” Stensrud said. “There were no hard feelings towards anyone, it was so positive out there and the crowd was amazing.”

With their backs against the wall, the Jaguars needed to find a way to answer if they were going to extend the match – and their season – another set. It was tight to start the third set, though, as the two teams were deadlocked at 10-10 before a Stensrud and a Sierra Plotz kill gave the Lakers a 13-10 lead.

That’s when RCW responded with a run of its own, using a 7-1 spurt to take a 17-14 lead. Lakeview would get a block from Plotz to cut it to two, but RCW held on to take Set 3, 25-20, and cut the deficit to 2-1.

The Jaguars continued their strong midde-set play to start the fourth frame, with RCW racing out to a 6-3 lead, setting the stage for the final set battle.

Olsand knew that it was going to take a team effort in order to survive and advance in the playoffs, and was pleased her team was able to come together as a group throughout the match.

“I told the girls it was do or die, in the playoffs you win you go on, you lose you go home so we really needed to leave it out on the court,” Osland said. “All five of our hitters had at least five kills, so everyone really contributed to the match and Kaitlin dished out 40-some set assists so I think it was really a group effort and I’m glad we could finally bring that group effort to our game because we’ve been looking for that.”

In addition to Stensrud, Plotz chipped in nine kills while Savanna Louwagie had eight, Savannah Rausch had seven and Harley Orvis recorded six. Fischer tallied 46 set assists on the night while Alexis Lienemann led in digs with 19 while Sidney Geistfeld added 14 and Stensrud and Bahn each had six. Plotz also led the defense up front with three blocks.

Lakeview (15-12) advances to the next round and will face No. 2 seed Wabasso on Friday at 7 p.m. in Wabasso. Osland said their biggest takeaway is to use their recent match against the Rabbits to their advantage and find a way to slow Wabasso down with their defense.

“We played them last Thursday, so we both have fresh film and fresh eyes on what they’ve got going on,” Osland said. “They’re a tough program and they’ve got Maddy Guetter on the outside who seems to put the ball away and find a way no matter what, so our biggest goal is to play defense on Friday night.”