Confidence on rise for Deer Lakes girls volleyball team

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, September 16, 2018 | 11:18 PM

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Even though it is early in the season, Deer Lakes girls volleyball found itself at a bit of a crossroads in Thursday’s match at Burrell after the Bucs took the second set to knot the match at 1-1.

It was a spot the Lancers had been in once before when they won the first set against Derry in the season opener only to lose the next three and drop the match.

For a team that has aspirations to break into the upper echelon of WPIAL Class AA, the Lancers didn’t want to let another match slip away.

They answered with one of their best sets of the season, a convincing 25-14 win, and went on to close out a 3-1 victory over the Bucs.

It was a positive response and a step toward finding the right formula to manage the tough moments.

“We can be really good, and we can fall apart at times. But I have a lot of experienced players, and I think they will do well this year,” Deer Lakes coach Terry Gaston said. “The whole team played well (against Burrell). We fell apart a little bit in game two, but we rebounded well, which was good to see.”

The Lancers sit a half-game behind defending state champion Freeport in Section 5 at 3-1 and get their first meeting with the Yellowjackets on Sept. 25 on the road.

Deer Lakes is coming off a season where it won a playoff game for the first time in more than two decades, a 3-2 win over North Catholic, and has experienced returners in senior captains Kaylee Sciubba and Lydia Fink. Junior setter Renee Robson is also a returning starter.

In the season opener with Derry, Deer Lakes enjoyed a 19-6 lead in the first set, but let the Trojans come back before ultimately holding off the rally. Gaston said the comeback attempt gave Derry momentum it never relinquished, and it led to the Trojans winning the next three.

In the third set against Burrell, Deer Lakes opened up a lead and kept it, which was an enjoyable moment for Sciubba and Fink because it gave the team confidence in their ability to close out games.

“Sometimes we lose our focus and our energy and we have to bring it back,” Sciubba said. “We just tell everyone to relax and to take a breath.”

Sciubba was dominant in the middle Thursday, finishing with 11 kills. She added 15 digs and five aces to her line.

“If we can receive serves well, we have Kaylee in the middle and if we get a pass up to her to get her going it opens up the outsides,” Gaston said.

That formula worked in the third set. Sciubba had several kills from the middle, and Fink added a couple of her own from the outside.

“In a crucial moment we know that if we can get Kaylee the ball that she’s going to do something smart with it,” Fink said. “That keeps us up and thinking positive. She gives us a good option when we need it.”

Scuibba provides an outlet for the Lancers to get back on track with her ability to command the middle of the net. She also provides comic relief. She usually is laughing or smiling after every play, even when it doesn’t go her way. For example, Sciubba had a serve from Burrell bounce off her and glance off her face, but laughed it off with the rest of the girls on the floor and went after the next point.

“We’re really close friends outside of volleyball too, so that helps us a lot,” Sciubba said. “We always play together and we make a lot of jokes on the floor and find a lot of things funny on the court.”

They hope to take that jovial nature with them to Freeport. The Yellowjackets beat Deer Lakes three times last year, including in the WPIAL quarterfinals, but the Lancers are hopeful they will be more competitive against them this season.

“I think in the past we have thought like ‘Oh, its Freeport’ and maybe we’ve been a little timid,” Fink said. “What Kaylee and I want to do this year is try to treat it like any other match instead of thinking about it as playing our big rival.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.

Tags: Deer Lakes