Lake Linden-Hubbell captured the Class D district championship with a win over Dollar Bay (25-11, 25-23, 25-19), Thursday in Dollar Bay. It’s the Lakes’ eighth consecutive district title. (Eden Laase/ Daily Mining Gazette)

DOLLAR BAY — Lake Linden-Hubbell has a secret weapon.  

It’s not the Lakes’ hard serves, defense or precise ball placement — though those were all on display in LL-H’s three-set victory over Dollar Bay for the Class D district championship (25-11, 25-23, 25-19).  

To find the thing that really makes the team tick, you have to look to the bench. And it’s hard to miss. 

Every time LL-H scores a point the players on the bench leap from their seats, stomping their feet, clapping and screaming in unison.  

“When you can come into another school’s gym and you can capture that enthusiasm and momentum, it is huge,” LL-H head coach Maureen Schick said. “Once you get another team down it can do a lot of damage.” 

The Lakes had plenty to cheer about in their victory, and they were in control for most of the contest.  

The first set started out with some back-and-forth play, but then LL-H began to heat up. Erin Seppala propelled the team early with well-placed kills in the first set, recording seven in the game. She also had 10 digs.   

LL-H ended the set with 14 unanswered points.  

“I think in the first game, we did what we wanted to do,” Schick said. “There were certain zones we wanted to hit in and I thought we served tough and made them move. They showed a few nerves and we were able to take advantage.” 

The next two sets were much closer and Dollar Bay jumped out to a 12-9 lead in the second. It went back and forth for most of the set, with the Lakes’ signature cheering section on its feet for every point.  

In the third set, LL-H quickly went up 7-3, but Dollar Bay went on a mini-comeback and evened the score at 7. After Dollar Bay forced the Lakes into some defensive mistakes, Schick called a timeout to regroup.  

“In the first game, we passed on target and then it just kind of got sloppy with people reaching, people not being ready,” she said of the second and third sets. “There was too much standing around and falling.” 

Following the timeout, the Lakes focused in and went back to work, building a lead. They fixed their mistakes and got back to playing the kind of defense Schick prides her team on. 

“Defense is always an emphasis because, at Lake Linden, we don’t have big power hitters,” she said. “We have shorter girls so we have to be able to play the ball.” 

Dollar Bay started to miss its targets offensively, and LL-H began to overpower the Blue Bolts. LL-H outscored Dollar Bay 18-12 to end the match and claim the trophy. 

“They have an amazing defense,” Dollar Bay head coach Erin Gast said. “It is so hard to score against. There are basically three spots that you can score so when we hit our spots we did score, but when we missed there was no hope.” 

LL-H was led by Mariah Willmer with ten kills and Laura Lyons with 21 assists and nine digs.  

The Lakes advance and hit the road to play Munising at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Westwood.