Behind four all-league picks, Flyers not backing down

Last year, Lake volleyball won its first league title since 1976, when the Flyers competed in the Northern Lakes League.

The Flyers finished 20-3 overall and 12-1 in the Northern Buckeye Conference, sharing the title with Eastwood. 

What makes that noteworthy is that Lake coach Amy Vorst is an Eastwood graduate who played for her alma mater’s only state championship team. If the Flyers will have to defend, Vorst is confident that Eastwood will be one of the teams to contend with.

“I hope that we finish at least top two in our league again this year,” Vorst said. “I am sure Eastwood will be strong as usual and I know that Woodmore has really improved in the past few years.  I don’t think we can underestimate any team in the league.  In order for us to be successful we need to play as a team, give all-out effort defensively, and stick to our offensive game plan.”

The good news for Vorst is that she only graduated one senior. She has four returning players who received all-league and all-district honors.

They include senior middle blocker Cassidey Wiley, sophomore setter/outside hitters Taryn DeWese and Vayda Delventhal and junior middle blocker Ella Vorst, who stands well over six feet tall, closer to 6-foot-2 and led the team in blocks last year. Wiley broke the school career record in aces last year, Delventhal lead the team in aces, and DeWese was tops in multiple categories.

Other key returning letter winners include sophomore libero Sydney Stanley and junior outside hitter Skyler Foster.  

The Flyers started the season 3-0 overall, winning all three matches in straight sets, and 1-0 in the league. 

Lake opened the season by defeating visiting Evergreen 25-11, 25-13, 25-12 as Wiley tallied 16 kills, Delventhal had 20 assists, Stanley had 16 digs, and DeWese had eight kills, four aces, and 10 assists.

At Maumee, Lake won 26-24, 25-11, 25-23 as DeWese recorded 15 kills, Wiley had 12 kills, Delventhal had 23 assists, and Stanley had 13 digs.

The Flyers took down Fostoria in their NBC opener 25-16, 25-16, 25-13. DeWese led the team with 12 kills, three aces, and 14 assists, Wiley had 13 kills, Vorst had 11 kills, and Stanley had 16 digs. 

So far, in Lake’s first three matches stat leaders are Wiley with 41 kills, DeWese with 33 kills and 35 assists,  Vorst with 27 kills, Delventhal with 65 assists, and Stanley with 54 digs — pretty good numbers for just a trio of matches.  

Vorst, who is entering her seventh season with an 87-55 accumulative record, has slowly seen her program gain strength, and she has four former players at the collegiate level — Kayla Bekier (Wheeling), Kortney Ellison (Lourdes), Karly Bekier (Owens Community College) and Taylor Momany (Owens CC).

Demonstrating the kind of confidence she has built into the program are the non-league teams Lake has scheduled. The Flyers are at Ottawa-Glandorf on Saturday, Sept. 11 and host Clay on Saturday, Sept. 18. Both matches begin at 10 a.m.