Lady Cats travel to Lakeland for first matches of season

By RICHARD HETTINGER
In their first game of the season last Tuesday evening, the Lady Cats survived the long bus ride to Lakeland to do battle with the Lady Vikings. It was noticed on the way down that the school is well named because while traveling south from Clinton many parts of Truman Lake are seen.
After the JV ladies lost a close three game match with the final game being very close, the varsity girls took the court. In their first game the score constantly changed with each team scoring at will. The Lady Cats pulled away when it counted, scoring a 25-17 victory. The second game was pretty much the same except Drexel was trailing. Then with Katie Hocker serving well, the Lady Cats ran off six straight to take a slight lead. This lead continued to build during the contest until it seemed the game and match were well in hand. Then the tide turned as the Lady Vikings crept closer. With Drexel about to take the game with only a score or two left, Lakeland began to take control and ran off a number of consecutive points. The game became to close for comfort as the Lady Vikings had come back to within one at 22-24. The Lady Cats expressed “no worries” and calmly scored in the final rally taking the game and the two out of three game match in 2 games.
Serving; Hocker 9, Gunnels 5 and Collins 5. Aces; Hocker 5, Gamache 3 and Freeman 2. Kills; Hocker 4, Lane 3 and Vlieger 2. Assists; Gunnels 4, Collins 2 and Lane 1. There were no blocks recorded.
“The Lady Cats looked great. The first game we were talking and moving the entire game,” says Coach Busch. “The talking died down some in the second game so we’ll work on that. Our hits were not as strong as they have been in practice, but they were enough to help get the job done. We have some things to work on; but, overall, it was a strong start to a bright season.”
On Thursday the Lady Cats stayed home and played host to a tri match with Miami and Adrian.
Drexel started off the evening facing the Miami Eagles and made....
Read the complete story in the September 10th edition.
PHOTO: Drexel’s Meagan Lane is there for the block in the girls volleyball matchups with Lakeland last week. Photo by Kevin Gunnels