LTHS Girls Varsity Volleyball opened up the Fall 2023 season with a tournament hosted by Andrew High School the weekend of September 8-10. The morning of Saturday, September 9, 2023, the team played St. Laurence in the first round of the winners bracket (determined by the results of games played on 9/8).

The first game of the set proved to showcase two evenly matched teams. Lockport trailed around 1-2 points the whole time, ultimately losing 25-23 after coming back from a score of 24-20.

The girls came out the second game looking almost like an entirely new team: they quickly asserted a 15-4 lead over St. Laurence with a dynamic, easy flow to their play. It seemed that they had found a groove and weren’t ready to back down. The game ended in a 25-16 win for the Porters.

Lockport’s domination in the second game of the match had the fans on the edge of their seats, wondering whether the Porters could continue their momentum. However, the team started off game 3 slower: St. Laurence quickly took a 6-3 lead. Lockport subbed more defense in the game to combat the opponent’s attacks which helped them catch up from a 13-8 to 13-11 point score, but they couldn’t seem to level it out until the last 5 points of the game, where they evened it to 21-21. Ultimately, the slow start of the third game proved to be devastating for the final outcome of the match. Lockport lost the game 22-25 off of a blocked hit, placing them in the losers bracket with no chance of winning the tournament. 

So… what are Lockport’s strengths? 

The team’s overall serving is strong and consistent. No more than three balls were served into the net the entire match, and that with little backspin. These balls known as “floaters” are more difficult to receive as they are harder to judge where their final destination will be on the other side. Lockport’s offense is strong, with a good balance between well-placed hits and sneaky tips, their outside hitters, notably #6 and #17, play smart and utilize the surprise value of variety in offensive attacks. Their defensive line is killer: #13, the main defensive specialist (also known as the libero) seems to never miss a save, constantly on the ground popping balls that should score the other team points back up to their setter, #7. Quick on her feet with a calm presence on the court, #7 stays cool and collected, saving balls from hitting the net and setting up her outsides off of semi-frequent poor receives. 

Weaknesses?

In a close match, with a tournament title on the line, Lockport had regular rotations with notably weak serve receive. Although this may not be an issue with a team that doesn’t pick up on the vulnerability, St. Laurence capitalized on the opportunity to score an easy 3 or 4 points in the 3rd game which proved to be detrimental to the result of the match. As an observer, one must ask the question of whether the 4 defensive specialists on the bench could have evened the game and helped the team pull out a win. 

With all that said, if the team can overcome inconsistent play from game to game and start and finish every match like they played the 2nd game, they have a great chance to be dominant in their conference this year and make it far into the playoffs. 

Good luck Porters, we’re rooting for you!

(The schedule and roster for the girls varsity 2023 volleyball team can be found at https://schools.snap.app/lockport/athletics/volleyball/g/all)