Staff photo / Preston Byers. Lakeview’s girls volleyball team celebrates after a point during the Bulldogs’ playoff win vs. Struthers on Wednesday in Cortland.

CORTLAND — Entering Wednesday’s district semifinal, Lakeview’s girls volleyball team was on a mission to get in and get out as quickly as it could.

Mission accomplished.

The Bulldogs, in their third meeting of the season with Northeast-8 rival Struthers, swept the Wildcats (25-14, 25-10, 25-17) to advance to the Division IV, Northeast V district championship match and put themselves a step away from achieving one of their primary objectives.

“We came in with a goal in mind, and it was to get this done in three [sets],” Lakeview coach Heather Guthrie said. “We know going against this team — it’s hard to beat them three times in a season. So we knew that they were going to come out and give everything that they had, and we were coming out to give everything that we had.”

After a back-and-forth start to the opening set, the Bulldogs began to chomp away at the Wildcats.

Even a mid-set timeout by Struthers head coach Robert Calvin did little to slow down Lakeview, which won the set 25-14.

The Bulldogs kept up their consistent, athletic attack in the second set, which proved to be even more lopsided than the first.

After the 25-10 second-set loss, though, Struthers showed life and fought Lakeview throughout the third set.

The teams remained relatively even for the first 15 points, but the Bulldogs, buoyed by the likes of seniors Reagan Price, Molly Stuart, Addison Allen and Mallory Mailach, ultimately pulled ahead, where they would stay in a 25-17 match-clinching set win.

“They definitely knew who our strong hitters are,” Guthrie said. “They knew what Mallory’s tendencies were when she was off, where they were going to go, where she was going to set the ball. So I think that that made us play mentally tougher tonight. It made some girls that aren’t used to maybe swinging as hard or being one of the main arms in the offense, and made them step up.”

For Struthers, the straight-sets defeat was its third to Lakeview in 2024.

“The mistakes lost us the game,” Calvin said. “We made too many errors, and they didn’t make any errors. … We’ve been working through our season to get rid of the errors.”

Despite the loss, Calvin praised his players for their effort and accomplishments this season.

“This is the furthest Struthers has ever gone,” Calvin said. “So I thought we did really well this year.”

Lakeview continues on in the postseason with Wednesday’s victory; the Bulldogs will play Cleveland Heights Beaumont in the Division IV, Northeast 5 district final.

Winning a district championship has been on the minds of the Bulldog seniors not just the entire season, Price said, but for their entire time at Lakeview.

“This is a goal we’ve had since before, I would say, the beginning of the season for sure,” Price said. “But even years before, in eighth grade, our high school team made it to districts, but they ended up falling short. And we’d just like to really break that record.”

While the team has been nearly flawless — Lakeview has won 21 of its 23 matches and all but eight sets this season — the Bulldogs are using one of their few hiccups to fuel them.

On Oct. 3, Lakeview recorded its only NE-8 loss of the year, a 3-1 away defeat vs. Girard.

That letdown still does not sit well with the Bulldogs.

“We all hated the feeling. It was horrible,” Price said. “I think that we use that to motivate ourselves because we don’t want to feel that again, especially our senior year. Because it is the playoffs now, so if we lose, we’re done — and we don’t want to be done playing with each other yet.”

Having the physical tools to match up with playoff-caliber teams is one thing, and something the Bulldogs have.

But the seniors, some of whom Mailach said have been playing alongside one another for six years, aren’t focused on the athleticism of themselves or their opponents.

To them, chemistry and mental toughness will be what decides who wins the district title.

“We need to all have confidence in ourselves and trust each other on the court,” Mailach said.

“Everything from here on out now is mental,” Stuart said. “We’ve prepared all year long for it to be physical, so now it’s all in our heads.”

Whether they have the makings of district champions will be determined Saturday when the Bulldogs travel to Mentor for the 3 p.m. match vs. Beaumont.

If they can manage to return home with the title, Guthrie said it will “bring light back” to Lakeview athletics.

“It just would set the tone to prove how hard these girls work,” Guthrie said. “Yes, I want to win, but if anything, I want to win for the girls. I want them to have that feeling, knowing that hard work does pay off.”