High school volleyball: Vermilion rallies, beats Lorain in non-conference matchup

LORAIN — After rallying but losing a big lead in the first set, Vermilion bounced back to take the final three to beat Lorain on Saturday in non-conference volleyball play. The Sailors rallied from 21-15 down in the first set with nine straight points but couldn't finish off the Titans in dropping the first game 26-24. However, Vermilion won the next three games 25-20, 25-22, 25-14 to win the match. The Sailors are now 8-12 while Lorain fell to 12-7. Vermilion didn't allow Lorain to go on any extended runs after closing out the first set. In the second set, Lorain closed a 15-11 deficit to 15-14 but the Sailors went on a 6-0 run and managed to keep the lead from there off kills from sophomore Sophie Habermehl and an ace from junior Emma Gebhardt. Habermehl closed out the set with a block-kill and a soft, well-placed kill. Habermehl led the way with a dozen kills and two block-kills but the Sailors proved to have pretty good depth up front. "It was really just staying together as a team," said Habermehl. "I think about communication on the court and telling each other what's open on the court and what would work and what won't work. (Lorain) is a really scrappy team. They're good, they were able to get balls up, but I think it's just a matter of placement with scrappy teams like that. There are places on the court to put the ball down no matter what." In the third set, the Sailors built a 13-8 lead but let the Titans rally to take a 22-20 lead before closing out the set on a 5-0 run with two kills coming from senior Elizabeth Okasinski. The fourth set was pretty much dominated by Vermilion after starting the game with leads of 4-0 and 7-4. From there, the Sailors built the margin to 17-9 and 21-12 and finally closed it out on kills from Gebhardt, freshman Peyton Strickler and finally senior Lauren Logsdon. "The past three matches that we've had, we've had some pretty big wins against teams that we've lost to the first time around in our conference," Vermilion coach Sawyer Schafer said. "(Saturday) was no exception. "Lorain played fantastic, they're very scrappy. They picked up a lot of balls. They have a lot of height. They don't let balls drop without a fight. We had to be patient in playing defense longer than they did." That was one thing evident in the match. Lorain hustled all afternoon and it paid off with a number of saves on its side of the net. The Titans scored the final five points in the first set to win, thanks in part to three errors on Vermilion and an ace from sophomore Jayla King and a kill by freshman Janelle Butler. "Overall, we see the growth that's happening," Lorain coach Capreece Irby said. "I preach to them all day, every day, discipline. It's frustrating in matches like this, you know you can win and the energy starts there but not seeing the longevity of it all the way through, that's the most frustrating." The Titans are young with only two seniors on the roster. Junior Ci'Ana Armelin and King were the leaders. They both led in kills (nine each) and aces (three each). Armelin also had three block-kills. Lorain had 11 aces for the match. "(Vermilion) was able to consistently make the adjustments coming out of Set 1," said Irby when asked the difference after the first set. "(We) were super scrappy Set 1. Our energy was high and it seemed like we had our game plan down, but not getting comfortable in that. I saw them get comfortable, I saw them get complacent and Vermilion took advantage of that." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7235 or timothygeb@msn.com.Vermilion 24-25-25-25, Lorain 26-20-22-14KILLS: (V) Sophie Habermehl 12, (L) Ci'Ana Armelin, Jayla King 9. BLOCKS: (V) Habermehl 2, (L) Armelin 3. ACES: (V) Elizabeth Okasinski 3, (L) Armelin, King 3.