The Lisbon Lions beat Marquette Catholic 3-0 Thursday before fending off challenges from five different teams at Saturday’s STC Tournament in South Tama.
Thursday, Sept. 23The Lions kicked off their week by traveling to Marquette Catholic, and beating them in three straight sets by scores of 25-9, 25-12, and 25-15.
“All 13 kids played, and everyone contributed. We really felt good about that,” said Lions head coach Lance Kamaus.
“It was a good start, obviously.”
Saturday, Sept. 25 Lisbon participated in the STC Tournament in South Tama on Saturday, taking home a perfect 10-0 record for their trouble.
The Perry Jayettes, a 4A team, were no match for the Lions, who took their two sets of the day by a lopsided 21-7 and 21-8 result.
“We came out and played well,” Kamaus remarked.
“We served the ball phenomenally. Ella really swung well, Peyton swung well.”
Lisbon were 40-41 at the service line in their match with Perry.
The BGM Bears met a similar fate to the Jayettes, falling 21-8 and 21-12 to the Lions in their second round of play.
“The whole operation was really thorough,” Kamaus said of his players after the match.
The Lions had a close first set with South Tama, but hung on to win 21-17. The second set found Lisbon winning by a more comfortable margin of 21-11.
“The first set was tight,” said Kamaus, “but we came out and really put the pedal down there in the second set, the kids closed really strong.”
The Lions were again 40-41 serving, as they were in their first match of the day.
The Lions breezed through the semi-finals as well, taking down 4A Grinnell Tigers 21-6 and 21-14, setting themselves up for an encounter with the tenacious Waterloo East Trojans for the championship.
The team played at a “good tempo,” Kamaus later said. “We really played well again.”
Lisbon took the first set against Waterloo East handily, winning it 21-16, but the second set was a different story.
The Lions led 16-13 at one point, and “we gave up five straight,” said Kamaus.
The team fought back from their 16-18 deficit, but soon were down 18-20.
“Eventually got on the right side of the tied score,” Kamaus said, as his team turned things around to take home their 10th win of the day with a 25-23 edge.
“East High presented some issues for us,” said Kamaus, adding that the team’s record is “super deceiving,” and that they have a challenging schedule.
The Lions improved their record to 21-4 before gearing up for what Kamaus called the team’s “busiest week of the season.”
They would play games Tuesday at home, have a match Thursday on the road, before playing six more teams at Saturday’s Northeast Invitational.
“I’d like to play as many kids as I can,” Kamaus said.