CENTERVILLE — The old adage says laughter is the best medicine.
For the Centerville volleyball team, its fun is a bad sign for other teams.
The Elks talked, smiled and joked between points and games as they cruised past Lebanon 25-16, 25-23, 25-11 to claim the Greater Western Ohio Conference tournament title on their home floor Thursday.
“We found out that when we are super serious, we play a little tense,” senior Sydney Beng said after recording seven kills and 12 blocks. “When we are relaxed and joking around, we play our game.”
The Elks dominated from the beginning in all three sets, opening big leads in each. The second set appeared to have the same tone, but the Warriors erased an 18-10 lead to tie the set at 21-21 on a block by Megan Jones and 23-23 on a service winner by Mandee Ehrlich, but the Elks closed it out on a net violation and a two-hit call on the Warriors.
“I told them the third game to keep hitting at them; to not get into the tipping game,” Centerville coach Carrie DeMange said. “I thought we got into the tipping game too much in the second game and it hurt us. We needed to keep hitting at them to keep them off balance and I think our blocking took them out of their game.”
Beng got it rolling in the final set with a kill and the Elks pushed the lead to 20-7 before Allee Johnson (14 kills) finished things off with a monster kill down the line.
Baylee Johnson added six blocks, 28 assists and 16 digs while Jana Krafka finished with 32 digs for the 19-2 Elks.
“We don’t have the blocking to handle that,” Lebanon coach Tim Mersch said of Centerville’s offense after falling to 18-4. “We have been suspect all year in blocking, but what can you do?”