Flyers girls volleyball win 4th straight NBC title, first district title

Press Sports Editor
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The only thing missing from Lake’s volleyball’s resume — aside from a state title, the ultimate prize — was a district championship.
The Flyers had come close to winning a district title last season, but this year, the team steamrolled to within one match of the state final four, falling, 3-1, in a Division II regional final to perennial power Gates Mills Gilmour Academy.
Lake, which finished the season 21-7 and won its fourth consecutive Northern Buckeye Conference title, defeated Lima Shawnee, 3-0, in a regional semifinal, reaching the highest point in program history.
The Flyers’ previous four victories — which came against Otsego, Rossford, Rogers and Scott — also came in straight sets, a sign of their dominance.
In the win over Shawnee, which went 24-2, Taryn DeWese led the way, finishing with 16 kills, 14 assists and nine digs. She had three kills in the first set as Lake jumped out to an 11-4 lead, and Shawnee would get no closer than five points for the rest of the set. The second set saw the teams battle to an early 5-5 tie before the Flyers won 11 of the next 16 points and won comfortably. In the third set, Shawnee rallied to cut the lead to 22-19 and 24-21, only to see Lake put them away.
Maura Deutschman finished with 11 kills; Vayda Delventhal had four kills, 15 digs, and 15 assists; Sydney Stanley had 15 digs and Sydney Marchetto had 11 digs.
The 3-0 win over Otsego (25-19, 25-17, 25-13) in the district finals will be remembered fondly among Flyer faithful. After losing five-set defeats in the district championship in each of the past two seasons, DeWese, who has committed to continuing her career at Vanderbilt University, made sure Lake would clear the hurdle as she finished with 20 kills, 17 assists, 14 digs and two aces. Delventhal also played well, totaling 11 kills, 13 assists, eight digs and three aces.
The first set saw the two teams battle to a 19-19 tie before the Flyers won the final six points, led by DeWese, who had eight kills and seven assists in the opening frame. Then, Lake jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the second set and cruised to an 8-point victory before winning the third and final set, 25-13.
Amy Vorst, now in her eighth year coaching the Flyers, credited her four seniors — DeWese, Delventhal, Deutschman and Stanley — for their mental fortitude.
“The maturity of the seniors, having been in those situations in the past was vital,” said Vorst. “This group, I think they knew there was something special with this team, having been to the district finals in each of the two previous seasons and not getting over the hump.
“We have a lot of buy-in from our kids, the kids playing now started in our biddy program. We have a lot of kids that play club volleyball; some play year-round. I think that’s a big part of our success – these kids train all year,” she said.
DeWese, who broke three school records, Delventhal and Stanley are the captains.
“They’ve done a phenomenal job of embracing the young kids on the team and leading by example. They work hard every single day, and I think that’s leadership. They would hold the kids to a high expectation,” said Vorst. “They’re easy to approach, which helped us avoid chemistry issues. Chemistry and leadership trump ability, but we had all three, so I think that’s a big part of why we were successful (this season).
“I think we had a special group of kids. There was no drama; the kids worked hard every day, and even the kids that didn’t get a lot of court time put in a great deal of effort in practice.”
It wasn’t just the four seniors who helped contribute – there was also Sydney Marchello, Mylah Vorst, Sydney Brown, Alayna Meadows, Calli Conley and Keira Magers.
Vorst said that the team’s performance in the Perrysburg Black & Gold Tournament made them believe.
“We beat Solon and Newark Catholic, and that gave us confidence. And we lost to Avon but were the only team that won a set against them,” she said. “Then we went to Ottawa-Glandorf and beat them. The girls knew that they could compete at a high level after that.”