Lake volleyball closes season with emotional Volley for Cure win over GlenOak

The Blue Streaks wrapped up their regular season with just one match for the week, but it was a memorable one as Lake defeated host GlenOak 3-1 (25-17, 25-14, 23-25, 25-19). The victory means the Blue Streaks finish Federal League play with a 6-6 record — their first time in seven years finishing .500 or better.

Against GlenOak, Peyton Fritz and Ayla Filisky led Lake with 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Serving-wise, Sydney Hedrick and Luci Haddad each scored 11 points, with Haddad serving up three aces and Hedrick two. Emily Eakin finished with four blocks, while Violet Seaman and Paige Pribanich garnered three apiece. Haddad led the Blue Streaks with 20 digs, while Hedrick contributed 26 assists.

Lake has aspirations greater than finishing .500 in the Federal, however, and that begins Oct. 16 when the 19th-seeded Blue Streaks play No. 33 seed Medina Buckeye at Aurora in an OHSAA Division III Northeast 4 District sectional final. Last year, the Blue Streaks won a tournament game, so the objective this season is to make a deeper run into the postseason.

For fans who attended, the GlenOak-Lake match was memorable for another reason. The evening featured two teams — opponents at the net — who united off the court in support of a player’s mother. An emotional ceremony was held between the JV and varsity matches in which players from both teams walked in memory of a family member who either lost a valiant battle against cancer or alongside a survivor or someone currently confronting the disease. The number of players who took part speaks to the breadth of this insidious disease.

The event, Volley for a Cure, was arranged in conjunction with the Josette Beddell Memorial Foundation, an organization dedicated to bettering the lives of Northeast Ohio families affected by breast cancer. It consisted of a raffle, silent auction, bake sale and T-shirt sale, with all proceeds benefiting Ashley Wood, a 2001 GlenOak alum and mother of a current Golden Eagles volleyball player.