Lake volleyball coach Jeremy Bowen said team wanted another shot at St. Andrew’s after getting beat in the South State finals last year.
Lake got that shot and beat the Lady Saints 3-1 after losing the first set to advance to the Class 2A championship game.
“I saw a lot of determination in this group of young ladies,” Bowen said. “They wanted to face St. Andrew’s again and had that chip on their shoulder. They lost the first set and I told them they were better than what they had played. They went on to win the next three sets to win the match. We just continued to get better and better as the season went on. They worked hard and I think the biggest thing was the resilience.”
Unfortunately, two-time defending state champion Ingomar was waiting in the finals. The Lady Falcons won 3-0, winning 25-19, 25-13 and 25-7 behind the strong play of Macie Phifer.
“I think one of the things was they had been there,” Bowen said. “It was their third title in three years. They have been on that stage before and had that experience. And they had that super athlete in Phifer. We knew she should get her points and wanted to try and limit everybody else. I thought we played them really well for a set and a half. I think the lack of experience finally got to us.”
Lake finished the season with a 20-10 record and will lose six seniors in Taylor Clark, Alaina Alford, Mercy Anderson, Alexyia McNair, Mercy Anderson, Alyssa Sockey, and Daelyn Earls.
“We are losing a good bit but the cupboard isn’t bare,” Bowen said. “We have both attackers Amauri Jones and Brylee McGee coming back. I did some exit interviews with the kids and they are hungry to get back and take the next step. Now we get to put another chip on their shoulder. We have good strong competition in this area with teams like Newton County, Union, West Lauderdale and Northeast Lauderdale. And then you’ve got teams like Stringer, Clarkdale and Enterprise who are building good programs.”
