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The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
There wasn’t a coach in any division of the CIF-SS girls’ volleyball playoffs who coached through tougher circumstances than Lakewood’s Adam Wadley.
Coaching after the sudden loss of his brother, Jared, last week, Wadley returned to his team for Lakewood’s first-round matchup against Covina, where the Lancers rallied around the phrase “Play for Jared.” The Lancers did just that in dominant fashion against the visiting Colts, sweeping their way to a 25-11, 26-24, 25-15 win.
“The first thing I saw when I came back was that the girls wrote ‘Play for Jared’ on the whiteboard, and they had green ribbons in their hair for his favorite color,” Wadley said. “It was really nice to see them have so much love for him and my family, and my coaches did a really good job preparing for this week in my absence. Being out here has been taking my mind off things, and getting this playoff win means a lot. Hopefully we can keep it going.”
Lakewood’s win against Covina was its second over the Colts this season, having previously defeated them 3-1 in August. Tuesday night’s playoff bout was dominated by the Lancers in the serve and pass battle, as they piled on 11 aces, including nine from senior setter Layla Bailey-Zavala, who also dished out 26 assists while finding three hitters in double-figure kills.
“Our serve and pass was definitely our biggest strength today,” Wadley said. “We had some missed serves because we just kept it aggressive, and I felt that our first touch on the other end really opened up our offense and kept us in system for the whole match.”
Senior outside hitter Jenna Smith had a game-high 14 kills on .769 hitting, while sophomore setter-turned-outside hitter Mialani Mapu hit .307 with 10 kills. Lakewood was able to stay in system all night and open up the net for middle hitter Aaryn Hunter, who was all over the court with 13 kills and eight blocks in the win.
“Our entire team has shifted around in the lineup, and we’re just comfortable with change,” Smith said of the team’s versatility. “We had a setter out there hitting, and I used to be a middle before, and we all just train to be able to do everything. We just pride ourselves on having a team that can really do everything.”
Lakewood went on a nine-point run during a dominant first set to open up a lead as large as 14 points, with Smith and Hunter each recording five kills in the frame. The Lancers then found themselves in a much more competitive second set, one in which the visiting Colts led by as many as five points.
Covina opened the set on an 8-3 run before later taking a 21-17 lead, which sparked a response from the Lancers in the form of a 9-3 run to take the set in extra points. The final run featured two kills apiece from Smith and Hunter, including a swing from Smith on Lakewood’s second set point to give the Lancers a two-set lead.
“We had to get it done,” Smith said. “We told everyone to play for our seniors tonight to keep the season going, especially during that second set. We needed to keep the same energy and I think we just needed to slow each point down a little bit. We’ve played this team and we’ve beat them, so we just told the team not to let this be our seniors’ last game.”
Lakewood then cruised to a third-set victory, opening up a 13-6 lead before finishing the set on an 8-2 run to clinch the match. Senior Leylah Zepeda led one of those runs from the service line and had four aces, while Smith and Erica Ortiz also chipped in an ace each in Lakewood’s win.
The Lancers will remain at home for the second round of the CIF-SS Division 6 playoffs, hosting Yucaipa on Thursday. The quarterfinal round will then be played next Tuesday.
“We have two goals: The first one is to have one more practice on Wednesday, and we’ve earned that,” Wadley said. “Our goal on Thursday, then, is to practice on Friday, so we’re just taking it one step at a time, and we’re going to continue to play for Jared.”
