LAUREL HILL — There were no prizes or district seedings on the line as the Laurel Hill School volleyball team hosted District 1-1A foe Central on Thursday.
The Hoboes had previously wrapped up the top seed for the district tournament that will be played at Bethlehem on Oct. 24 and had nothing to prove against the Jaguars.
As the top seed in the three-team district Laurel Hill is assured a spot in the tournament championship match and a spot in the state playoffs.
In reality the only thing on the line for the Hoboes was the opportunity to run the district regular season schedule undefeated. Check that off too as Laurel Hill swept Central in straight sets by scores of 25-9, 25-9, 25-13.
Hobo coach Kent Zessin couldn’t have been more pleased with the way his team played Thursday and has been playing the last few weeks.
“We’re playing the type of volleyball we want to be playing at this point in the season,” he said. “They are very intelligent girls and they know the game well. They are very dedicated and they believe in what we are trying to accomplish and that’s to win the district championship and go to the state playoffs.
“We’ve already accomplished that goal of making it to the state playoffs. We just have to stay focused and do what we do.”
To say the Hoboes (16-6, 4-0) dominated the match would not be an overstatement. Laurel Hill never trailed after the first point of the match and Central never scored more than three consecutive points.
The only Jaguar lead came at 1-0 in the first set, but a Central serving error gave the Hoboes the lead and tied the match at 1-1. A kill by Lauren Gordon and an ace by Bridget Zessin put Laurel Hill in front 3-1 and the Hoboes were off and running as they roared to a 14-2 lead. Ten of the points came with Ashley Hatfield in serve.
Central never threatened in the first or second sets. And the Jaguar barely threatened in the third set. Central did cut the Hobo lead to 15-12, but a Kristen Perez kill started a 10-1 run that put the set and the match away.
Gordon led the Laurel Hill attack with nine kills. Kaylee L’Homme and Jhanea Griffin each had two kills.
Zessin had seven aces. Hatfield had six aces and Breanna Trunk had a pair of aces.
Summer Lewis had 13 assists for Laurel Hill. Morgan Meeks added 10 assists.
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Hoboes roll past Jaguars