On Thursday night the visiting Lee-Davis girls volleyball team completed a regular season sweep of rival Hanover in a hard-fought four game match (25-20, 17-25, 29-27, 26-24). It was a sweep so rare that no one is certain when or if it has happened before, but by no means did either win come easy. Hanover took Lee-Davis to five sets in their first meeting and the rematch appeared that it would follow a similar path.

  The large noisy crowd knew that both teams had a lot on the line.

  “Coming into play Hanover at Hanover is very stressful,” said Lee-Davis head coach Sharon Gaston. “They’re a good team and they have a great crowd that always gets fired up. It’s a tough house to play in. I just try to keep the girls focused on playing one point at a time.”

  While Atlee remains undefeated in Capital District play, the Confederates’ only loss was at the hands of the Raiders. Hanover had fallen to both the C-feds and Atlee. So for the Hawks to maintain pace in a tie for second place in the district they needed to beat Lee-Davis. The Confederates were well aware of what was at stake.

  “We knew this was going to be a big game and going to decide who was going to be tied for second in the district,” said Lee-Davis senior Logan Bryan. “If they would have won they would have tied us for second in the district. We wanted this really, really bad.”

  Lee-Davis came out of the gate firing on all cylinders to race to a quick 9-2 lead in game one. The margin swelled to 14-6 on an ace by Jordan Martin before the Hawks found an answer.

  Hanover ran off four straight to get back into the contest and a kill from sophomore Olivia Corbin trimmed the margin to 21-19 and forced a C-fed time out.

  Coming out of the break Lee-Davis sophomore middle Caroline Naumann dropped a shot in the corner of the court, Logan Bryan picked up a kill and a Hawk hitting error put the C-feds at game point from where they closed out the win 25-20.

  It was see-saw battle through the first 12 points in game two before Lee-Davis opened up a three point lead 15-12.

  But the Hawks answered strong to retie the game at 16.

  “Our main strength is we don’t have weaponry as far as, we’re going to go in and power the ball down,” said Hanover head coach Karl Lippa. “What we need to do is rely on being smart and create opportunities, where if we can’t get the point, instead of going for a kill, make them have a less successful attack and that worked really well for us in game two.”

  With seniors Halee Winston and Majewski at serve, Hanover went on a 9-1 run to take the victory 25-17. Lee-Davis’ only point in the stretch came off a Hawks’ service error.

  “I think we got a little too confident in the second game and we let them take that but after that we got our heads together,” Bryan said.

  With the match tied 1-1, game three turned into a real battle. With confidence gained, Hanover ran out to an early 8-3 lead which stretched to 14-8 before Lee-Davis found an answer.

  A block by C-fed sophomore middle Becca Lass started a Lee-Davis run and they tied the game at 17 on a dunk by Naumann. But they weren’t through. An ace from Kylie Armstrong was later followed by a block from Naumann, and drop shots from Kim Mitchell and Naumann to put Lee-Davis up 22-18.

  Then it was Hanover’s turn to answer, scoring three straight to pull within one.

  Two bad hits by the Hawks put Lee-Davis at game point but once again Hanover bounced back to take a 25-24 lead and the real battle began with a 27-27 tie.

  The Confederates finally escaped 29-27 on a kill from Lass followed by an ace by Lindsey Neal.

  “When it is that close, all I can think of is don’t let it get to my head and keep playing my game and just win,” Naumann said.

  Hanover took an early 3-1 lead in game four on a kill from Majewski. But kills from Naumann and Jordan Goodman helped Lee-Davis regain the lead 6-3.

  Following another Naumann kill, Lee-Davis held an 8-6 lead before Majewski broke loose for the Hawks.

  Hanover climbed back within one on a hitting error by the C-feds which sent Majewski to the service line. The senior recorded four consecutive aces to put the Hawks ahead 11-8. An ace by senior Mallory Moore made Hanover’s lead 13-9 and hitting errors by Lee-Davis put the Hawks up 15-10.

  Trailing at the midway point, Lee-Davis once again found an answer. Meghan Trice picked up a kill off an attempted block from junior Emily Heins and Nass added another kill. An ace was followed by another kill off a block by Trice and the C-feds had knotted the game at 15-15.

  Hanover edged ahead 17-16 but Lee-Davis responded with four straight capped by an Armstrong ace for a 20-17 lead.

  However the Hawks answered to tie the game at 20 then again at 22.

  A kill from Bryan put Lee-Davis at match point 24-22 but Hanover came back to knot the game at 24. But a big block by Bryan spurred a 26-24 win by the Confederates.

  Gaston was especially pleased with the play of Lass, who faced a tough assignment on the night facing off against Hanover’s outstanding senior Majewski. “She had a big role tonight going up against Logan,” Gaston said. “I wanted her to focus on blocking and she did that and she turned around and worked her angles out of the middle against a tough block. I thought she played very well.”

  The coach feels her teams’ ability to bounce back comes from Friday practices which involves a game called Storm. “My girls are tough and they love to compete,” Gaston said. “If we play that game it’s ugly that’s why I make them shake hands at the end because they all want to win. Our Friday practices are really scary.”

  Though his Hawks have fallen to the Confederates twice, Lippa expects the two teams will face off once again in the Capital District Tournament. “September was a great battle,” he said. “October was hard fought. November’s the one that matters.”
 
Lee-Davis 25 17 29 26
Hanover 20 25 27 24
Records: Lee-Davis 13-1, 9-1 Capital; Hanover 10-8, 7-3.