Golden Bears edge Raiders in 5

BASCOM – Lakota had Gibsonburg right where it wanted the Golden Bears Tuesday night, but they got let off the hook. Lakota led Gibsonburg 2-0 in a Division VI district semifinal at Hopewell-Loudon, but the Raiders couldn't quite finish the Golden Bears off in the third set, breathing life into Gibsonburg. That backfired on the Raiders as Gibsonburg stormed back to take the match with a 18-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-21, 15-9 win."I thought in the beginning we came out ready to go and with some aggressive serving, which helped us," Lakota coach Maddison Kille said. "They did a libero switch, so it switched us so we didn't have as aggressive serving then in the later games. "Their hitting really started through our blocking and we weren't getting there as fast as we should, but in the beginning our blocking was on, which helped our defense tremendously. My seniors came out and gave it their all. The change was that we weren't getting as many kills, not as many hitters late in the match."Queen Beard was the dominant force throughout offensively for the Raiders (16-8) as she tallied 25 kills and three blocks, but it just wasn't enough in the end as Gibsonburg's confidence began to grow after fending off elimination in the third set. Emma Jurovcik added nine, Sophia Bomer dished 42 assists and made 15 digs, Jurovcik made 18 digs and Peyton Myers finished with 145 digs and four aces.Lakota led throughout the third and fourth sets, but Gibsonburg (16-8) wouldn't go away in the end as Gibsonburg trailed 20-19 and 21-20 in the fourth set, but got the victory. Lakota led early in Set 5, but Gibsonburg grabbed the momentum after it was tied at 7 and rode that until the end.Overall, the Raiders may not have started the season how they wanted to, but later in the season winning 12 matches in a row and getting to a district semifinal is an accomplishment, and something to build on."We lost a good senior class last year, so we were trying to adjust to those spots because we actually only had three varsity starters back out of our eight," Kille said. "Plus, we had a senior get hurt the very first game and then a senior get hurt twice, so I think making those adjustments and we talked with the girls that we had like a 'come to Jesus-type moment' as a team, but then they really picked i9t up winning 12 straight games. In the league we took at last a game from everyone in the league, except for Calvert. "Tonight wasn't in our favor, but we're super proud of how far this team came and being able to compete at the level we did by the end of the season."