Prep Volleyball: Lady Vols sweep River Valley, improve to 3-0

KINGMAN – The Lee Williams High School volleyball team turns to the simple expression “flush it” whenever a mistake happens on the court. The Lady Vols put that motto to work Tuesday as they overcame a few early deficits, but ultimately swept River Valley 3-0, (25-18, 25-20, 25-6).

“When we get down, we always come together as a team and we fight no matter what,” said Lee Williams’ LaNae Burgess. “We flush our mistakes. We don’t look back and we just focus on the next ball and the next point. We work as a team to hustle and never give up on each other.”

The ability to look past mistakes is even more impressive for Burgess considering she is a freshman. She was surprised at first to be playing varsity, but she’s made it this far and continues to push herself.

“(Burgess) works hard,” said Lady Vols head coach Julia Lasiloo. “She does everything right and everything that I ask her to do. She is very talented as freshman.”

Burgess wasn’t the only athlete working hard Tuesday night as Sadie Snay and Victoria Logan tied with a team-high five kills, followed by Lorelei Fernandez with four. Burgess, meanwhile, led the Lady Vols with eight digs. Snay added seven and Khori Cobanovich finished with six digs.

Lee Williams (3-0) faced an early 3-2 deficit in set one, but quickly turned it around. The Lady Vols took a 13-8 advantage to force a River Valley timeout and never looked back in a set one win.

The Dust Devils (0-3) didn’t let that stop them in set two though, as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Lee Williams once again responded with a flurry of points and appeared to have the set clinched with a 24-16 advantage. However, River Valley rallied to inch within four points, 24-20, before the Lady Vols finished off another win.

“They just have to relax and stop forcing themselves to make plays,” Lasiloo said. “They try to force themselves rather than just playing the game.”

Lee Williams didn’t face that issue in set three though. The Lady Vols took a 10-2 lead and then easily cruised to the win and sweep of River Valley.

The Lady Vols are back in action today as they make the short drive to face Kingman High School. First serve is set for 6 p.m. and Lasiloo knows it’ll be a busy stretch with five matches in the next 13 days.

“We have a tough couple of weeks coming up,” she said. “So I’m trying to get them in the mentality of playing. When a mistake happens, we have to get through it and win some games.”