Lawrence High players come together to celebrate a point during the Lions' sub state volleyball match against Blue Valley West Saturday at LHS. The seventh seeded Lions fell to the second seeded Jaguars, 2-0 and ended their season with a record of 8-29.

Lawrence High’s volleyball team had the honor of hosting one of the four Class 6A sub-state tournaments Saturday, but the home-court advantage was not enough to send the Lions past Blue Valley West.

LHS entered as the No. 7 seed, and fell to No. 2-seeded BV West in straight sets (25-12, 25-8).

“Blue Valley West is a solid team,” LHS coach Stephanie Magnuson said. “They’ve got swingers at all places, and their setter is fantastic. It’s just hard to keep up with that kind of a team.”

The Lions (8-29) hung tough with the Jaguars early in the first set, trailing 8-7, but it was all BV West from there. The Jaguars used an 8-0 run in the middle stages of the first set, and rattled off nine straight midway through the second to keep the Lions from grabbing any momentum.

Lawrence High senior Nicolasa Kenney dives to make a dig during the Lions' sub state volleyball match against Blue Valley West Saturday at LHS. The seventh seeded Lions fell to the second seeded Jaguars, 2-0 and ended their season with a record of 8-29.

“I think we came out with a lot of energy, and just a lot of fight,” Laurel Bird said. “The underclassmen wanted to play hard for the seniors, and the seniors wanted to play hard since they didn’t want it to be their last day.”

The Jaguars made it hard for the Lions to get much going offensively, as they tallied eight aces. Senior Caroline Dykes echoed Bird’s thoughts about the team’s high energy level helping the Lions play well early, but said the team could not find a rhythm once the Jaguars seized momentum.

“We got stuck in a few rotations, and we just couldn’t put the ball away or get a pass,” said Dykes, who had two of the Lions’ three aces.

Blue Valley West went on to defeat No. 3-seeded Olathe East in three sets to advance to the state tournament.

LHS senior Kyleigh Severa led the Lions against BVW with three kills, and tied for tops on the team four assists along with Bird. Saturday’s setback was the final match for seniors Severa, Dykes, Katie Murrish, Nico Kenney, Nez Iskandrani and Nicole Owens. Dykes was sad to see the season and her LHS volleyball career end, especially with the team coming closer both on and off the court.

“We have definitely grown together as a team in these past couple of weeks, and I’m really thankful for that,” Dykes said. “We all bond really well, so it’s really nice to have people that you can lean on outside of volleyball.”

Lawrence High senior Nez Iskandrani (9) challenges Blue Valley West sophomore Hannah Engleken (4) at the net during the Lions' sub state volleyball match against Blue Valley West Saturday at LHS. The seventh seeded Lions fell to the second seeded Jaguars, 2-0 and ended their season with a record of 8-29.

As one of five underclassmen on a senior-laden team, Bird was a mainstay this season in the starting lineup. Bird credited the six seniors for helping her improve during her sophomore campaign and said the returning Lions will have to put a lot of work in during the offseason to get off to a better start next season.

“We didn’t start off as well with the record we wanted to this year,” Bird said. “Hopefully next year we’ll switch it up.”