NORTH CANTON, Ohio -- The Lake Erie Volleyball team began their 2024 season at the Hall of Fame City Challenge for a two-day tournament against Point Park University, Seton Hill University, and Roosevelt University. On day one, the Storm faced the Pioneers in game one and the Griffins in game two, followed by facing the Lakers in game three on day two. Lake Erie finished the tournament with a 2-1 record.

DAY ONE

GAME ONE

The Storm started the weekend against the Point Park Pioneers. In a five-set battle, the Storm came out victorious. The Storm and Pioneers went back and forth as each team would exchange scoring rallies. The Storm built a 12-9 off the back of a senior Alexandra Matthews kill, which came from senior Simone Schurr. Point Park would then go on a 6-0 run, and the Storm would tie it 15-15 with two kills from senior Katelyn McMoore and a service ace from senior Anna Lewis. With the set winding down, Lake Erie was up 24-22 with kills from McMoore, Lewis, and freshman Allison Kirch, but attacking errors would not let them clinch the first set. The Pioneers rallied to a 25-24 lead and Kirch would get a kill to tie it at 25, but a Pioneer kill and service ace would give the first set to the Pioneers by a score of 27-25. Lake Erie would finish the first set with 18 kills, while Point Park would finish with 12 kills. 

The second set would find the Storm ahead early due to multiple Pioneer attack and service errors. With the Pioneer miscues and kills from Kirch and freshman Gabrielle Jones, the Storm gained the early advantage, 9-4. Lake Erie built a 14-8 lead with multiple kills from Lewis and Kirch, as well as a kill from sophomore transfer Diamond Baker. More Point Park miscues gave Lake Erie a 20-12 advantage highlighted by a kill from freshman Sadie Nawrocki and a block by Baker. The Pioneers began to push back bringing the score to 20-15, but the Storm would not let the Pioneers any closer as the Storm. Lake Erie would close the second set with kills from Jones and Lewis and took the set by a score of 25-19

The third set was another set with multiple scoring rallies from Lake Erie and Point Park. The Storm won the first three points of the set, followed by six points by the Pioneers, and also a four point rally by the Storm would give them an 8-7 advantage. The set would remain competitive and back and forth with each team exchanging rallies and the Pioneers had built a 14-10 lead before the Storm rallied off three more points, highlighted with a block from Nawrocki. Several miscues would begin to pile on Lake Erie as Point Park began to pull away with the set. Kills from Baker, Jones, Matthews, and Kirch could not combat the miscues as the Pioneers would win the third set by a score of 25-20

The fourth set began just as highly competitive as sets one and three with no team pulling away early. Point Park took an early advantage in the set with a score of 10-7, and would build their lead up to 15-9. Lake Erie would storm their way back into the set by winning nine of the next 11 points to build a 18-17 lead with multiple kills from Kirch and Nawrocki, as well as a kill from Baker. Lake Erie and Point Park would go back-and-forth to the score of 22-22, but then two kills by Nawrocki and a service ace by freshman Cecelia Mullen would give the fourth set to the Storm by a score of 25-22. 

The Storm would continue the momentum from the fourth set into the fifth set as they raced out to an early 6-0 lead highlighted by a kill from freshman Nora Larson. Lake Erie would not take their foot off the pedal as it grew their lead to 12-5 with blocks from Kirch, Jones, and Lewis. The Pioneers tried to gain momentum late in the set by getting the score to 14-9 after attack errors from the Storm, but an attack error of their own would seal the game as the Storm won the fifth set by a score of 15-9.

Kirch and Nawrocki would finish their first collegiate match with 20 kills and 14 kills with one block each. Jones also finished her first collegiate match with nine kills and two blocks. Kirch's 20 kills would tie a Lake Erie freshman record with Shawnna Sulecki (2005) and Lexi Lombardo (2016). Senior libero Brooklyn Broadway led the team with 13 digs. Baker would lead the team with three total blocks. Senior Sarah Leyden led the team with 25 assists and Schurr also picked up 22 assists.

GAME TWO

The Storm faced off against the Seton Hill Griffins for their second match of the day at the tournament. Lake Erie would take the first set of this contest, but Seton Hill took the final three sets of the match.

The first set would start with two Griffin kills followed by four straight points by the Storm. Points were exchanged back and forth from each team until a block by Nawrocki and Lewis gave the Storm a 13-11 advantage. Lake Erie seemed to have gained control in the set as they grew their lead to 21-16 highlighted by a Broadway ace and a Lewis and Jones block. The Griffins would then win eight of the next nine points to gain a 24-22 advantage, but they would score no more. A Lewis kill, two Kirch service aces, and a Larson kill gave the Storm the next four points and the Storm won the first set by a score of 26-24. 

The second set began with the Griffins taking an early 5-2 advantage due to Storm miscues and Griffin aces. The Storm began to gain momentum as two Schurr aces, attacking errors, and a Jones block gave them an 11-6 advantage. Seton Hill immediately put an end to the Lake Erie rally and went on a rally of their own as they gained a 17-11 advantage due to multiple Lake Erie attacking errors and Seton Hill aces. The Storm managed to get back in the game by cutting the deficit to two at 19-17, but more attacking errors along with three Griffin kills gave them the second set by a score of 25-19.

The third set began with the Griffins and Storm exchanging points. Momentum began to go Lake Erie's way as they grew a 10-6 lead with a Kirch kill, blocks by Nawrocki and Lewis, and kills by Nawrocki and Lewis. Griffins gained their own momentum winning the next five points to take a 11-10 lead. Both teams went back-and-forth until Seton Hill pulled ahead 17-14. Kills by Lewis, Baker, and Matthews were not enough to swing the momentum back to the Storm as the Griffins took the third set by a score of 25-20.

The fourth set was not kind to Lake Erie as Seton Hill took an early 6-2 advantage due to two service aces and attacking errors. The Storm brought the score to 10-7 highlighted by a Baker block, but the Griffins would win 12 of the next 13 points to give them a 22-8 lead. Lake Erie won win five of the next seven points with kills by Lewis, Jones, and junior transfer Jasmine Heyward, an ace by Schurr, and a block by Jones, but Seton Hill would take the fourth set by a score of 25-13. 

Broadway led the team with 18 digs and Kirch led the team with 9 kills. Lewis achieved a new career best of five total blocks with Jones accounted for four total blocks with three of them being solo. Schurr led the team with 18 assists and Leyden pitched in 13 of her own. Heyward and redshirt freshman transfer Rori Hanken also got their first kills as members of the Storm volleyball team. 

DAY TWO

Lake Erie finished the tournament with an early morning match up against the Roosevelt Lakers. The Storm would come out in this battle victorious in a straight set victory against the Lakers. 

The first set began with both teams exchanging points. The score was 10-10 at the time there was any momentum change. The first team to get momentum was Lake Erie as they would win the next six points to grab a 16-10 lead led by two Leyden aces, and kills from McMoore, Kirch, and Nawrocki. Momentum continued to go to the Storm as they built their lead to 20-13 highlighted by a Baker and Matthews block and an ace by sophomore Jenna Sayles. Roosevelt would cut the lead to as little as four, but Lake Erie was able to keep their lead and would win the first set by a score of 25-20. 

The second set was a battle for each side as the teams exchanged points early. The score was 12-12 with no signs of any team gaining momentum. Unlike the first set, Roosevelt was the first team to gain momentum by winning the next four points and taking the lead of 16-12. The Lakers would hold steady with the Storm and seemed poised to win the second set by building a lead of 24-19. Lake Erie showed fight and grit as they won the next seven points and steal the second set by a score of 26-24. Kills by McMoore and Lewis and attacking errors by the Lakers gave the Storm the opportunity to steal the set. 

The third set was a different story as both teams went on multiple scoring runs. Roosevelt gained momentum quickly in the set by taking an early 6-1 lead. The Lakers would continue to lead 13-9 until the Storm struck. The Storm won the next eight points with help from multiple Lewis kills, multiple Schurr aces and a block from Lewis and Kirch to give the Storm a 17-13 lead. The Lakers struck the Storm back by taking the next three points to cut the lead to one. The offense of Lake Erie would step up late in the set with McMoore and Matthews recording multiple kills. A timely block by Baker and McMoore and an ace by Matthews would lead the Storm to a set three victory by a score of 25-20. 

The Storm offense was led by balanced attack with McMoore having nine kills and Matthews having seven kills. Kirch led the defense with 10 digs and two blocks along with two blocks from Baker. The setting tandem of Schurr and Leyden had 16 and 13 sets. 

Lake Erie will continue their 2024 season as they travel to Wisconsin to compete in the Hampton Inn Invitational starting on September 12th. Their first match of the invitational will be against host Wisconsin-Parkside at 7 p.m. The second day of the invitational they will compete against Wayne State (Michigan) at 2 p.m. and Upper Iowa at 6 p.m. The final day of the invitational they will compete against Northern State at 12 p.m. G-MAC competition will begin on Tuesday, September 17th with the home opener against Tiffin at 7 p.m.