The Lakeland Lady Hawks volleyball team have finally returned to action in 2021 after winning the 4A state championship in 2020. After losing a lot of talent in the 2021 graduating senior class, this year’s younger team will face a lot of adversity and hold a significant amount of weight on their shoulders, having a theoretical target on their backs being the defending champs.

In 2020, the Lady Hawks were powered by a three-headed monster of seniors in Katy Ryan, Abbey Neff, and Olivia Cooper. This season they have to regroup and try to have another successful season.

Lakeland played a doubleheader on August 26 to start the season. They swept Lewiston in a dominant game all around. Senior Addie Kiefer led the team in kills with nine. Ellie Carlson and Olivia Staudinger both helped out the team with 14 combined digs. Emily Morlan had three aces, and the Lady Hawks took a 25-20 victory in the first match and 25-15 in the second match.

Lakeland jumped out to a 2-0 start with their second consecutive sweep to start the season in game two of their doubleheader. They defeated Lewiston in the first match, 25-17 and 25-15 in the second match. Emily Morlan had a season-high five aces, while Kenna Simon led the team with nine kills, and Samantha Daniels had a season-high 25 assists.

On August 28, the Lady Hawks played their third game and fell to Troy, 2-1. There is no available information for this game.

Post Falls swept Lakeland in game four of the season with three close wins. Lakeland fell to 2-2 after this game. Olivia Staudinger had 13 digs, and Kenna Simon had seven kills, but it was not enough for Lakeland to come on top against their 5A opponent, Lady Trojans.

The Moscow Lady Bears swept the Lady Hawks on September 7 in the fifth game of the season. Addie Kiefer had 16 kills, while Olivia Staudinger tied her season-high with 13 digs. However, once again, this wasn’t enough for Lakeland as they lost their third straight game.

On September 9, Lakeland broke their short three-game skid and took the 3-2 victory against the Coeur d’Alene Lady Vikings. The Lady Hawks won another game later that day with a sweep over the Timberlake Lady Tigers. There is no available information for either of these games.

The Lakeland Lady Hawks have gotten off to a solid 4-3 start after winning state last year, and they will look to build off of their momentum from the Timberlake win. Their next game is at 7 pm, September 14th at Sandpoint against the Sandpoint Lady Bulldogs.