Lake Catholic and NDCL entered their Sept. 17 contest undefeated atop the North Coast League standings. They traded the opening sets and the Lions crawled out of a huge hole in the third to trail by one point late. But the Cougars put the hammer down to take the third and fourth sets for the victory to be the sole team atop the standings. Lake Catholic improves to 12-3, while NDCL falls to 7-4. After the Cougars’ contest with Gilmour, Coach Tess Connolly had her team focus even more on communication. Especially with a rivalry game, she knew that was going to be paramount. “A big focal point was making sure that we trusted ourselves as a team,” Connolly said. “We want to be a fluid family. We did a lot of setter hitter connections. They were strong, but they can always get better. Both Ava’s (Starr and Budrys-Rini) did well tonight with the connections, getting the middles involved, Starr running the slides. They both played well.” Lake Catholic ran out to a 21-14 lead in the opening set, but NDCL stormed back out of a timeout. A 5-1 run by the Lions forced a Lake Catholic timeout, but the Cougars took the opening frame, 25-21. But they couldn’t carry that momentum into the second set, as the Lions led wire-to-wire, 25-19. Ava Budrys-Rini understood there needed to be some adjustments to deal with NDCL’s block. Ava Hill recorded five for the Lions but none after the second set. “It’s huge to have a group like we do both offensively and defensively,” Budrys-Rini said. “We got in our heads a little bit. We were more out of system. That made it more difficult to get the ball down. We’ve had a lot of practices hitting the one, roll shots, and working around that block.” Budrys-Rini recorded 15 kills for the Cougars, and Natalya Bergant had 16. Her sister Ahnna also finished in double figures with 13. With that balanced attack, Natalya knows not many teams can eliminate a pair of hitters. But NDCL attempted to in the third set. Out of a timeout where the Lions trailed, 17-9, they went on a 9-1 run that made it 19-18 and forced a Lake Catholic timeout in the middle of it. The seniors message to the team in the pause in play was a simple one. “That second set we lacked communication,” Natalya said. “We had that as a more urgent thing in the next two sets for sure. We just needed to really play ball and have fun. It’s simple, but sometimes that’s all it takes for us.” All three players also recorded three blocks. Natalya and Budrys-Rini combined for five of the Cougars’ final seven points in the final set. The back row also had a strong night for Lake Catholic, anchored by senior stalwart Julia Oster. She racked up 12 digs in the contest. But the duo of Sophia Newland and Ava Starr also shouldered some of the receive game duties, totaling six and five digs respectively. Connolly has been impressed with the underclassmen’s drive to learn from Oster and the strides they’ve shown already. “It’s great to see our defense and serve receive game so strong, especially in the end of the match,” Connolly said. “I’m a big defensive person. You can’t win without defense. They’re doing a great job of understanding that level. Sophia and Ava have been doing a great job, both have filled major roles there.” Avery Budrys-Rini and Oster also had strong showings from the service line, as they combined for nine aces. The service line was one of the problem points for NDCL through the contest, as several of the Lions serves wound up in the net as they tried to rally. Coach Tom Ray’s young team this year has shown improvements mixed with small steps backward. All four of their losses have been to state-ranked opponents, which is something that motivates his team. “We know we can compete with anybody now,” Ray said. “We’ve played all the top teams in the state. We’re consistently competing with teams. Now we need to find a way to turn that into wins. Mentally be able to stay in the match. The team is starting to grow a lot and jell more. We’re always a slow developing team, but we’ll be ready come playoffs.” The Lions’ attack was led by Hills and Frankie Brkic with eight kills each. Abby Tolin racked up nine digs, and Samantha Wheeler had four aces. NDCL now prepares for the second leg of conference play, with a trip to Beaumont on Sept. 19. Lake Catholic also hits the road on the same date for a game with CVCA.