Eddie O’Neill/Daily Mining Gazette Lake Linden-Hubbell’s Pelli Fortin (6) and Cleo Milkey (1) go up for a block against Ontonagon’s Jackie Cahill on Thursday in a match in Lake Linden.

LAKE LINDEN- Team work was they name of the game for the Lake Linden-Hubbell volleyball squad on Thursday. The Lakes posted a consistent, united front and sailed to a three-game sweep of the Ontonagon Gladiators (25-13, 25-10, 25-16). With the win, the Lakes stay perfect at 7-0.

“The girls had each other’s backs, and that was good to see,” noted Lakes’ coach Joslynn Perala.

In the first, the Lakes pushed out to a 4-3 lead, and with Alli Corrigan serving, it quickly became a 13-5 lead. That morphed into a 25-15 win.

The second set was much the same. Corrigan was again key at the service line early on posting a seven-point tally. The Lakes wore out the Gladiators with strong defense.

“We capitalized on the free balls they game us,” noted Perala.

Eva Petaja did a great job stepping in for an injured libero in Ashlyn Steves.”

Cleo Milkey led the Lakes with eight kills, and they won the second set by 15 points.

Milkey pushed the Lakes out to a 4-0 lead in the third and the girls never looked back. Payton Goldsworthy led the Lakes with four aces on the night. She had two in the third set.

While the Gladiators were able to come within four at 11-15 and 14-18, that is as good as it got. The Lakes never let up and kept the girls from Ontonagon out of system.

Emily Burnham put the Lakes up 23 -15 while at the line, and this one ended 25-16.

Ontonagon coach Noelle Manos was proud of her girls’ effort. She said they did their best as she and her coaching staff switched things up a bit.

“We switched around our rotations, setters and players,” she said. It was a different setup for us, and the girls played well given the scenario.

UP NEXT

The Lakes will travel to Chassell on Monday to face the Panthers at 5:30 p.m. O Tuesday, the Gladiators will be in Dollar Bay to take on the Blue Bolts at 5:30 p.m.