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Lakeview downs Canal Fulton Northwest for back-to-back district titles

Staff photo / Dan Hiner. The Lakeview volleyball team reacts after winning the Division V, Northeast 5, district championship on Wednesday at Highland High School.

MEDINA — Sitting between the Lakeview volleyball coaches was a jack-o-lantern themed bag containing some candy. It was a little treat for the coaches as they deal with the stress of a varsity match.

But the Bulldogs got something a little sweeter than some early Halloween candy on Wednesday.

They won their second straight district title, beating Canal Fulton Northwest 3-1 at Highland High School. Lakeview won 25-14, 25-18, 23-25, 25-20.

“We started off the year 0-4, and these girls knew that wasn’t their potential and that wasn’t what they wanted people to think of when they thought of Lakeview volleyball,” Lakeview head coach Heather Kiser said. “We knew, ultimately, that we’d have some growing pains to get through at the beginning of the season. Once we started getting some wins under our belt, we started to take off.”

Lakeview (15-10) started off well, taking a 6-2 lead in the first set. The Bulldogs continued to add to their lead. Then Northwest only partially blocked a spike by Leah Toth, giving the first set to Lakeview 25-14.

The first 10 points of the second set were a little tighter. The Bulldogs led 6-4, but they eventually pushed their advantage to 19-10, forcing Northwest (10-14) to call a timeout.

Lakeview had plenty of room for error as it led 24-14, and while Northwest put a streak together, another kill by Toth gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead after winning the frame 25-18.

After the two teams went back and forth for a bit, the Indians took a 7-6 lead in the third. Northwest’s lead grew to 16-9. However, Lakeview strung some points together and cut the lead to 16-14, and a kill by Annaliese DeJulio tied the set at 19.

But the teams traded points yet again. And this time Northwest got on the board, trimming the Lakeview lead to 2-1, by taking the third 25-23.

The Bulldogs gave Northwest some hope, but they didn’t mess around to start the fourth set. They jumped out to a 6-0 lead, which increased to 13-6.

Then Northwest slowly began to chip away. The Indians managed to get the deficit down to 23-20, but a kill by DeJulio ended the fourth with a 25-20 Lakeview win.

The players gathered like they would another other point, and half a second later, they erupted into cheers.

“It was definitely like, ‘Oh, we won.’ Like it kinda had to process first,” freshman Cece DeToro said.

DeToro led the Bulldogs with 17 points, 38 assists and a block. Cady Esker added 15 kills and four aces, and Ella Gough had a team-high 28 digs.

All three of the team leaders are underclassmen, and that’s not counting the contributions Toth made as a freshman.

The Bulldogs only had one returning player with playing experience from last season’s district team and there are only a few seniors on the roster, so young pups had to step into key roles this fall. And now they got some hardware of their own.

“It means a lot that we were able to do it a second time and that I was able to contribute to that,” DeToro said.

The Bulldogs had a 73-minute trip back to Cortland, but they didn’t need a sugar rush from that candy to provide any energy before getting home.

“I hope I can go to sleep tonight,” Kiser said with a chuckle.

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