Warriors capture third straight CVC Lake volleyball crown

Winning a conference title isn't any easy accomplishment.

Edgewood's volleyball team claimed its third straight Chagrin Valley Conference Lake Division title with a 25-19, 25-12, 25-20 win over Lakeside Monday night.

The Warriors then defeated North 25-16, 21-25, 25-16, 25-14 Tuesday night, and are 11-0 in the conference, 16-2 overall.

"It feels amazing to be here again — three straight CVC titles — and I'm so proud of all we've accomplished so far. We've only dropped eight sets so far on the year overall, and the girls are working hard."

After hosting Saint John for Senior Night Monday, Edgewood's last conference match is Tuesday at home against Geneva, which is also concludes the regular season.

In the win over the Dragons, Summer Matthews scored 14 points and notched 27 assists.

At the net, Faith Vencill recorded 17 kills, three blocks and 10 digs.

Payton Woodring, Jerzi Patton and Antoria Taylor also collected three blocks apiece.

Vencill had 26 kills and 21 digs; Matthews, 42 assists and three aces; Patton, 13 points; Woodring, three aces and Taylor, nine blocks, against the Rangers.

"We were able to handle ourselves in serve receive as they tend to be aggressive in serving and have the leading ace server in the county, as well as state-wise in [Gabby] Kaplan," coach Vencill said. "We knew we had to limit our errors, and wanted to control tempo."

Vencill said the team is doing well with getting the offense going on free-ball opportunities, and being aggressive with the ball.

"We have also started being more aggressive on the service line," she said.

But she also realizes there's more work that needs to be done as the regular season winds down.

"The things we know we need to get better at is being able to run offense consistently right out of serve receive," Vencill said. "It's something we practice toward, and need to see happen in games more often."

The Warriors are scheduled to participate in the Division IV postseason tournament. Last season, Edgewood lost in a district final match, after reaching the regional tournament two seasons ago.

"Our main focus will be trusting offense in tight games going into the tournament," Vencill said. "These will be closer games, and remaining focused on the point at hand. Tournament play will be tough as many great teams, and we need to handle the point at hand, and not allow errors to cost us."