photo by: John Young

Lawrence High volleyball players jump and celebrate a point during their match against Basehor-Linwood on Thursday evening at LHS. The Lions swept their home-opening tri with victories over Basehor and Ottawa.

In their home opener Thursday, there were times when Lawrence High’s volleyball players looked unstoppable and other times when they struggled in long stretches.

But when the Lions needed to play their best in big moments, they stepped up and earned a sweep in their home triangular, winning in three sets against Basehor-Linwood (25-21, 25-27, 25-23) and Ottawa (25-23, 17-25, 27-25) at LHS.

In the final set against Ottawa, the Lions fought back from two match points with kills from sophomores Baylee Unruh and Brooke Wroten, sending their student section and teammates into hysteria.

After both teams traded points, senior Amelia Dunlap landed a kill and the Lions cemented the victory when the Cyclones had an attacking error.

“It was really nice because we worked as a team,” junior Katelyn Mask said. “We kept pushing and kept encouraging each other to just keep going and keep getting better. That really helped us get through it.”

Against Ottawa, the Lions fought back from a four-point deficit at 23-19 to win the first set with key kills by Mask and junior setter Laurel Bird, who slipped a dump shot past Ottawa’s blockers.

Lawrence trailed by as many as 12 points in the second set before finding a way to win a back-and-forth third set. Unruh had 12 kills in the match, followed by Dunlap (10 kills), Mask (9) and senior Abby Percich (5), set up on passes from setters Bird and Laura Willoughby. Senior Lexi Anglin added five blocks.

“I feel like sometimes they’d get a few points and we’d let up,” Unruh said. “Then we would realize that we needed to pick ourselves up and we’d come back and fight.”

Perhaps the best way to describe the Lions’ up-and-down play was their match against Basehor-Linwood. After winning the first set, the Lions had six match points in the second set and watched the Bobcats rip off seven straight points.

The Lions won the third set with a balanced offensive attack led by Unruh and Dunlap, who both had five kills.

“We told each other where to hit the ball,” Unruh said. “Our defense got everything up. And we put up big blocks.”

With LHS libero Lauren Maceli controlling the defense on the back row, Unruh and Mask both had stretches where they looked in sync with their setters and dominated on offense.

Playing in their home opener just made those dominant stretches that much more fun.

“I get so pumped up,” Unruh said. “I jump in the air and everyone is just screaming. I get chills through my bones.”

The Lions will play Rossville, Topeka High and Washburn Rural in a quadrangular at 5 p.m. Tuesday at LHS.