photo by: Evan Riggs

Lawrence High volleyball coach Stepanie Magnuson talks with her team during the Lawrence tournament on Saturday at LHS.

Lawrence High’s volleyball players didn’t come away with the results they were hoping for, but coach Stephanie Magnuson was pleased with the way her team played at the Joan Wells Invitational on Saturday at LHS, despite not winning a set.

“We played with a lot of heart and intensity,” Magnuson said. “We stack this tournament every year with a lot of great teams to challenge ourselves and see how far we can push ourselves at this point in the season.”

The Lions have an 8-17 record after finishing in eighth place.

Lawrence played four ranked teams from Class 6A: No. 1 Blue Valley West, No. 4 Blue Valley Northwest, No. 9 Blue Valley, and Shawnee Heights, which is ranked No. 1 in 5A.

Sophomore Baylee Unruh led the Lions with 23 kills and 41 digs and sophomore Lauren Maceli added 38 digs. Junior Laurel Bird had 38 of the team’s 72 assists.

“I thought I played well,” Unruh said. “At the beginning of the day I had a few errors. I make mistakes all the time. But overall, I thought I had a pretty strong day.”

In the first match, Lawrence High fought off four match points before eventually losing to Shawnee Mission Northwest, 25-18, 30-28.

Lawrence lost to a pair of top-ranked teams in Shawnee Heights (25-22, 25-19), and Blue Valley West (25-14, 25-15) in the next two matches.

“I thought we played the best we have in a while,” Unruh said. “We played more as a team. We’re starting to get what we need to do. We’re reacting faster and getting more blocks and digs.”

In bracket play, Lawrence led, 10-3, in the second set after a block by junior Katelyn Mask. But Blue Valley Northwest came storming back to take the set and win the match, 25-13, 25-20.

In its final match of the day, Lawrence held a 22-19 lead in the second set before Blue Valley closed the set on a 6-0 run to win the match, 25-15, 25-22.

Though the Lions weren’t able to win a match on the court, the biggest win of the day came on their bench. Magnuson was diagnosed with breast cancer in July, but nobody would notice with the energy she displayed on the sideline.

“It’s exciting because she’s with us,” Unruh said. “That’s always happy for us to have her on the with us yelling and making us better.”

Magnuson only missed one day of practice and she said she’s very lucky in that regard.

“I was so incredibly fortunate with everything about my diagnosis,” Magnuson said. “Early detection has meant it is almost behind me completely.”

Magnuson said the pink-out tournament is always special for her to honor loved ones who have died or still battling breast cancer, but it carried extra significance for her this year.

“Absolutely,” Magnuson said with a smile. “It absolutely does.”

Lawrence will play host to Olathe North and Shawnee Mission East at 5 p.m. Thursday.