Lexington topples Bellevue in straight sets

LEXINGTON - The Lexington Minutemen's quest to return to Division II volleyball state tournament started on a high note Thursday. The Minutemen clinched the D-II Sectional Championship with a straight-set victory against Bellevue.

While the two teams kept things even early on in the first set, Lex surged ahead with an eight-point run to win 25-12. The Minutemen managed to top themselves in the second set with a 10-point run to win 25-10, and despite the Redmen's attempt at a rally in the third Lex came away with the final set 25-13.

"I like that we all worked well together," Lexington senior outside hitter Lauren Slaton said. "It just feels nice getting that first win out and hopefully we get a lot more."

Julia Kocher led the Minutemen offensively with eight kills and 11 blocks, while first team All-Ohio Cardinal Conference setter Olivia Kearns led the night with 25 assists.

Despite early losses to Monroeville, Norwalk and Mt. Vernon, the Minutemen (19-4) are riding a wave of momentum headed into the postseason with a month-long winning streak (9-0 since their loss to South Central on Sept. 17) and their first OCC Championship since 2012 with a 13-1 conference record.

Slaton and Lexington's head coach Jennifer Moore said their source of the success is being able to insert any of the 13 players on the roster into the lineup and still find ways to win.

"Our lineup is all over the place," Slaton said. "We need to figure out where to put people in the best spots for the best chance to win."

"I think one thing that's clicking is we are using everybody," Moore said. "They're not a very selfish team, so everybody is getting to hit and we're passing and communicating."

But while the Minutemen marched forward, the Redmen found themselves struggling early on with multiple missed serves and hitting errors in the opening set.

"I don't know what it was," coach Karen Irons said. "That's not our team, and it's disappointing we played like we played. We had a couple of glimpses. The first game, we gave them that with three missed serves, four or five hitting errors."

Despite the season-ending loss, Irons appeared optimistic about the team's future. The Redmen finished 11-13 on the year with only three seniors.

"They've just got to get in the mindset to come out and for two hours lay everything out on the court," Irons said. "I'm disappointed, but I'm proud of them. They fought hard all season."

Lexington faces No.2 seed Vermilion at Seneca East High School on Sept. 25 in the D-II Attica District semi-finals.

ccasey@gannett.com

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