Aug 7, 2024- The high school volleyball season in DeSoto County is now in full swing. Six of the county’s public school teams were in action Tuesday night, but likely the most impressive matchup of the night in Mississippi was the meeting between two defending state champions: Lake Cormorant of 6A and Lewisburg of 7A.
It was actually the second match of the season between the teams in four days. They met on Saturday in the Gold Bracket of the Volleyball Invitational at the Jackson Convention Center and in that one, Lake Cormorant came away with a 2-0 victory over Lewisburg in the best-of-three matchup.
Tuesday night, the Lady Gators gave up their first set of the season to the Lady Patriots, but Lake Cormorant then rallied for a 3-1 victory at Lewisburg High School. Scores of the match were 24-26, 27-25, 25-20, and 25-16.
“I felt like the girls really just found some energy that we were lacking towards the beginning of the match, and they just kind of came together and really started executing the ball a lot better,” said Lake Cormorant coach Christina Morgan.
The Lady Patriots took set one in a set that really didn’t have more than a two-point difference between the teams. Lewisburg had a 15-13 edge in the set but Lake Cormorant came back for a 20-19 advantage. The Lady Gators forged a 22-20 lead but Lewisburg would tie it up at 23-23. When a volley off a Lake Cormorant tip went out of bounds, Lewisburg came away with a 26-24 set victory.
The second was equally close but the Lady Gators were able to come through to tie the match at 1-1. This time, Lake Cormorant roared out to a 6-1 lead in the set but Lewisburg put a service run together for a 13-10 lead and then an ace grew the lead to 20-17 for the home team. The Lady Gators came back to tie the set at 23-23. A sideout block pushed Lewisburg ahead at 25-24 but the next two points would give the Lady Gators up by 26-25 and a block after a Lewisburg timeout won it for Lake Cormorant 27-25.
“The second set was a great set,” said Amy Hendrichovsky. “And again, they (Lake Cormorant) have a little more veteran group on their side of the court right now offensively, and so we’re really trying to, you know, just get our chemistry as a team.”
The final two sets were solidly for the Lake Gators. A service run gave Lake Cormorant a 17-8 lead in the third set before Lewisburg rallied to get within 18-13 before the Lady Gators won 25-20. The deciding set again had Lake Cormorant off to a 7-2 lead which eventually increased to 20-12 and a drop shot pushed the margin to 23-13 and the eventual 25-16 victory.
“We have a really good, solid team,” Morgan said. “They’re a lot of fun and they gel well with each other. They love each other. So that’s exciting.”
Both coaches added the strength of the early season schedule, with Saturday’s invitational and meeting state champions in Tuesday’s match would be beneficial.
“I think it’s very important,” Morgan said. “You know, I told the girls when I made the schedule that I made it for what I thought we needed. You know, we need that kind of competition in order to, you know, get where we want to be at the end of our season.”
“I think in the next few weeks we’ll play like Briarcrest and Collierville,” Hendrickovsky added. “We meet every year. It’s been no matter who my team is, we’re going to play teams at this point of the year to make us better and to prepare us for the region.”
For the match, Sofia Gonzalez led Lake Cormorant with 21 kills and Ariana Woods had eight. Gonzalez and Jania Rose each served two aces and Woods made six blocks. Gonzalez added 23 digs and Dallas White made 35 assists.
Lewisburg leaders included Ava Becker and Jordis Newsome with 10 kills each followed by Hallie Wright with eight. Kelis Parker made 19 digs and Allie Kate Hall made 17 digs. CLaire Smith chipped in with 34 assists, along with 11 digs and three kills.
