Lisbon volleyball has won eight straight Tri-Rivers Conference titles and is working on number nine.

But sometimes – like during a 25-21, 25-12, 25-16 sweep of Midland on Tuesday, Sept. 23 – a match may be a little closer than expected.

After all, three days previous, the Lions beat the Eagles, 21-2, 21-14.

“We’re a different team every day. You never know what to expect,” senior Mykala Luzum-Selmon said. “We’re all human. We all have ADHD on the court. We all want to look in the stands. We want to yell at our student section.

“We want to be involved with stuff and also get the job done.”

The Lions improved to 20-5 last week, including 3-0 in the Tri-Rivers East.

So, if they want to come out for warmups in big hats, and celebrate with a stuffed pickle after the match … who says no?

“When we’re doing our best, we give ourselves a pep talk,” senior Kaitlyn Silver said. “We have our bubble. We keep our bubble happy. No bad energy in our bubble.”

The pickle, by the way, was bought with prize tickets during an overnight stay at a tournament earlier in the season.

“Last year we got Squirt, a little plush fluffy ball,” Luzum-Selmon said. “We wanted to keep it going. We wanted to dress him up and make him part of the team.”

The Lions needed a little pickle power in the first set. Lisbon found itself trailing the Eagles, 18-17.

Silver had a kill to tie it up, then Luzum-Selmon delivered her 1,000th kill to give Lisbon the lead. Lisbon coach Lance Kamaus stopped the action to let the crowd know of her achievement.

“She had an idea she was close,” Kamaus said. “I knew exactly. I was counting down.”

According to the record book (which only goes back to 2007), Luzum-Selmon is the third Lion to cross the millennium mark. She only trails Peyton Robinson (1,076 kills) and Ava Czarnecki (1,218) on the career list.

“It was a surprise,” Luzum-Selmon said. “Me and my mom were talking about it the other night. Gosh, I have to be close.

“It means a lot. I’ve worked my butt off to get here. I’m proud.”

“I don’t know if she’ll get to No. 1 (in career kills),” Kamaus said. “But it will be close. She has a shot.”

Silver had another kill, then setter Emersyn Reiter added a dump kill to make it 21-18. Up 23-21, the Lions closed it out with a kills from Silver and senior Kamryn Kahl.

“Midland has nine wins, so we knew they’d give us some stuff,” Kamaus said. “We didn’t get off to the start we wanted and missed some serves, and had some hitting errors.”

The Lions used a 9-0 run in the middle of the second set to put the Eagles away.

And … at the end of the night, a sweep is a sweep.

Luzum-Selmon finished with 18 kills. Kamryn Kahl added seven kills, Silver had six and Alexa Roos had five.

Silver had a .455 hitting efficiency. The senior has become a key lineup piece this year, and has even started serving. She had two aces against the Eagles.

“I love serving,” Silver said. “I love being back at the line. I think I do OK.”

Silver played right side hitter as a junior but was mainly a reserve. Back at middle hitter, the senior has shined.

“I got to step into where I’ve played my whole life,” Silve said. “It is awesome. I love being on the court. The energy is insane.”

Luzum-Selmon (4.3) and Kamryn Kahl (2.4) lead the team in kills per set, but Silver is third (1.1).

“She’s been really good for us,” Kamaus said. “She sees the floor well. She doesn’t always hit it super hard, but she’s effective.”

“She is everything on planet earth,” Luzum-Selmon said of Silver. “She’s our rockstar. She’s our sunflower. She’s our everything. She’s our teddy bear.”

Lauren Stolte had 17 assists and Reiter had 14 against Midland. Kyla Kahl led with 18 digs.

The Lions closed the week by going 4-1 at the South Tama Invitational.

Lisbon beat Pleasantville (22-20, 17-21, 15-11), Waterloo East (21-11, 15-21, 15-9), North Mahaska (21-19, 21-14) and East Marshall (21-11, 21-17) in pool play, then lost in the semifinals to the host school, South Tama County, 21-17, 21-10.