By Tom Schardin, Staff Writer

The Prior Lake girls volleyball team had a formidable task in its first two matches of the season.

The Lakers faced two of the Lake Conference’s best teams in Burnsville and Chaska. One team (Burnsville) has arguably the state’s best player in Tori Dixon, while Chaska is ranked No. 1 in the state and is a perennial power winning back-to-back state titles in 2005-2006.

The result was two losses, although the Lakers pushed No. 10 Burnsville to five games and nearly had the upset.

Emily Holte: goes up for a spike.“We didn’t back down in either match,” said Lakers coach Mike Dean. “Burnsville has one of the best players in the state, if not the nation, in Dixon, and Chaska is always so tough. We showed no fear, but we lost our focus in both matches.”

Chaska swept the Lakers 25-15, 25-11, 25-22. Meanwhile, Burnsville won a five-game thriller, 25-21, 18-25, 25-20, 22-25, 17-15.

The Lakers were up 11-8 in the final game, four points away from victory. That’s when Dixon made her presence felt. She scored five points down the stretch, three coming on three straight tips and then she ended the game with a spike from the back row.

“We thought we had them up 11-8,” said Dean. “We made some mental errors late and Dixon made some great plays. That game five could have gone either way.”

The 6-foot-3-inch Dixon finished with 34 kills, but had only two blocks as the Lakers controlled that aspect of Dixon’s game most of the match.

Meanwhile, senior Brittni Wangerin led the Lakers in kills with 12, while juniors Brittany Thompson, Sami Kemper and Kathryn Gaydos each had nine.

Junior Emily Holte had a match-high four blocks to go along with four ace serves. Wangerin had five service aces. Gaydos had 27 setting assists and 10 digs, while junior Katelyn Berens had 18 digs.

Against Chaska, Dean said the Lakers had trouble finishing attacks, mostly due to Chaska’s stellar, consistent defense.

“They made some phenomenal defensive plays against us,” said Dean. “But we were not focused all the time in that match. I’m trying to preach to the team that the mental part of the game is just as important as the physical aspect.”

Thompson led the Lakers with eight kills against Chaska, while Wangerin had four. Holte and Kemper each had two blocks, while Gaydos had 18 setting assists. Berens led the team in digs with 10.

The Lakers are back in action on Thursday, Aug. 28 at home against Faribault in a non-conference match at 7 p.m.

The Lakers will begin Missota Conference play on Thursday, Sept. 4 at Holy Angels at 7 p.m.

“When we play well, we are focused as team and we play together on the court,” said Dean. “We can’t rely on just one person to get the job done. We also need to work on our ball control more and make more consistent passes to our setter. If we do that, we’ll be OK.”