Cape volleyball sinks Lake in four sets

In one of the most intense conference battles this season, the Cape volleyball team came out on top with a 23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-22 victory over Lake Forest Oct. 7 at home. 

The Spartans won a back-and-forth first set, but the Vikings took control of the next three. 

“We started off slow and struggled to understand our assignments,” said Cape junior Harper Mamele. “Once we did, we played really well as a team.”

Mamele led with 25 kills in the match. She has 168 on the season. Junior Camilla Willis and senior Amara Fruchtman had 20 and 17 digs, respectively. Kaylee Sockriter continues to be a force on sets, recording 32 assists to bring her season total to 303. 

“We worked really hard on Monday to maintain our trust in each other and to work on diversifying attacks,” said Fruchtman. “We ultimately were able to overcome adversity and play as a unit.”

“This was a very important win after the other losses we’ve had this season,” said Willis. “Ultimately, our service pressure set us up for success in the last three sets.”

Just 12 points separated the teams in the four sets played.  

“A sizable win for us tonight,” said Cape coach Tyler Coupe. “Sets one and the early portion of two, we really struggled executing our game plan. Going down 12-2 is never an ideal situation, but the kids showed a lot of grit to keep chipping at things point by point. Harper again had a really nice offensive match. She continues to find success the more she differentiates her attacks. Camilla and Journey [McDaniel] each added timely service runs and offensive runs.” 

Coupe was quick to praise the play of Lake Forest.

“Lake is arguably one of the top two or three teams in the conference, and they absolutely played like it,” he said. “They put a significant amount of block pressure on us. They have size that doesn’t jump out at you by just looking, but once they get to live play, they are really effective at penetrating the net. Their setter is strong enough to send a ball to either pin regardless of the pass, and that adds stress to our block and back court players.”

Sophomore Coryn Louder led the Spartans with 17 kills. Sophomore Sadie Fournier put up 40 assists to bring her total to 439 on the season. Erin Melvin bumped 11 digs. 

“We have a pretty tough two weeks coming up with three games each week against quality teams,” Coupe said. “We have the ability to compete, but our challenge will continue to be, can we show up match day with those abilities?”