Sweet Home volleyball loses to Lake Shore, rebounds at tourney
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

The Sweet Home girls volleyball team's first blemish in ECIC Division II this season came against a familiar rival.

Sweet Home dropped into a first place tie with Lake Shore after losing 15-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-8, last Thursday. Both teams are 10-1. Sweet Home has beaten Lake Shore the past two years for the Section VI Class A title.

"They played really well," said Sweet Home coach Breaan Trampasso of Lake Shore. "Not that I'm making excuses, we definitely played flat."

Trampasso said Lake Shore came out strong in the first game and surprised her team in the second game. She said her team played like themselves in the third and fourth game but completely collapsed in the fifth game.

"It was all of our serve-receive, which is strange because it has been strong all season," added Trampasso.

"Lake Shore was playing amazing defense," she added. "We could never find a space to put the ball down."

Trampasso said the loss could be a blessing in disguise.

"I think it will make my kids work a lot harder," said Trampasso. "We've been winning our league games pretty easily so a loss shows that anyone can beat anyone on any given night."

It seemed like the Lady Panthers used the Lake Shore loss as motivation for the North Tonawanda Tournament. The team went 6-4 in pool play and advanced to the gold division finals where they lost to Lockport, 18-25, 25-23, 13-15.

Sweet Home was playing without regular starters, middle hitter Courtney Smith and outside hitter Deborah Conti. Defensive specialist Jillian Reeser and outside hitter Kayla DiBello were moved to the outside and middle, respectively.

"Knowing we were shorthanded, I had never seen us play with that much emotion and desire in a tournament since I've been coaching the team," said Trampasso. "The only reason we went to the gold division (and not the championship division) was because we split games with Kenmore West, 23-25, 25-27. There wasn't one game in pool play where we didn't play well. Each one was decided by one or two points."

Sweet Home also won twice in pool play over Hamburg and Attica and split games with East Aurora and Starpoint. Sweet Home defeated East Aurora, 30-27, in the gold division semifinal. Trampasso said her team battled back for the win with outside hitter Ellie Allen serving the last three points.

In the gold division final, Trampasso said her team had trouble with Lockport's middle hitters.

"Lockport took advantage of that every time and went to the middle for a kill," said Trampasso.

Junior Kelsey Maving was named to the all-tournament team. Trampasso felt Reeser should have also earned all-tournament team honors.

"Every time we needed a kill, she got it," said Trampasso. "I know now I can use Jill not just on defense. She really stepped up and played awesome."

Sweet Home closes out the regular season at Hamburg at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com