Girls volleyball: Firelands beats Brookside to keep pace in LCL race

HENRIETTA TWP. — It wasn't flashy, but the win still looked pretty for Firelands. The Falcons and Brookside played sluggish at times, but Firelands put it together more often for a 25-19, 25-20, 25-20 Lorain County League victory Tuesday night. The win allows the Falcons to at least remain in a tie for first at 6-1 with Wellington halfway through the conference schedule, while improving to 8-5 overall. "I think we were a little too relaxed tonight, knowing (Brookside) is a young team," Falcons coach Mason Cooley said. "I'd like to see more of that killer instinct from us and not just show up and play. (The Cardinals did) a good job of staying in the game." The Cardinals were even with Firelands midway through the first set at 11-11, as Sydney Adkins picked up a pair of aces to go along with two kills from Sara Afaneh to offset four early kills by the Falcons' Josie Kirby, who was playing her second match after missing 10 games with an injury. "We were a little bit sloppy at times. "I think we're still working out some of the kinks," Kirby said. "We had really good positive energy tonight and I think that helped us pull through at times." Firelands took the lead for good with Layla McGuire serving after a Madison Howard kill. The Cards aided a five-point run with two unforced errors to go with a McGuire back-row kill and an ace for a 16-11 lead. Brookside (4-8, 3-4) made a late five-point run with an ace by freshman Violet Schremp and kills from Afaneh and Hailey Mertz to cut the lead to 23-19, but a Stella Frederick ace, the sixth of the set for the Falcons, finished off the win. The Firelands service game helped with the second set win as Frederick had an ace, while Everliegh Robinson and McGuire each had three, as the Falcons won the set with just seven kills with Kirby accounting for four of her team-high 11 kills. Kirby picked up her final two kills early, but it was senior Micah Lee and Robinson doing the damage down the stretch for Firelands with Lee getting three kills, while Robinson had four and a block-kill. The Falcons helped the Cards stay alive with 10 unforced errors as Afaneh and Mertz each had three kills as Brookside only trailed 22-20 after a Schremp kill. Robinson's final kill gave the serve to Lexi Schrader, who closed out the match on a Cardinals' hitting error and an ace. "We needed to take advantage of their (sloppy) stretches and we didn't," Cards coach Kristen Walsh said. "(Firelands) had way too many aces (15) and I don't know how many service errors we had. "We need to keep our spark. We don't always have that grit and drive. We see sparks of it at times, but we need it all the time." Contact James Brady at 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. Brookside 19-20-20 Firelands 25-25-25 KILLS: (B) Sara Afaneh 9, Hailey Mertz 5; (F) Josie Kirby 11, Everleigh Robinson 8. ACES: (B) Sydney Adkins 2, Violet Schremp 1, Amira Fraam 1; (F) Stella Frederick 5, Layla McGuire 4, Robinson 3. BLOCK-KILLS: (B) Khloe Jennings 2, Afaneh 1; (F) Madison Howard 1, Robinson 1