More News

Lanham Christian School junior outside hitter Jackie Schwarm took home the Maryland Independent Schools Athletic League Player of the Year award on Tuesday night. But the honor was bittersweet.

The Lions witnessed the end of their 31-match winning streak, as they lost in four games to Model School For The Deaf in the MISAL title match.

Lanham Christian (14-1) squandered early leads in the first and fourth games, and the Lions' bid for a second consecutive unbeaten season came to an end when senior Nadia Ansong blocked a kill attempt by Model's Martha Wolcott and the ball sailed off Ansong's hands and well out of bounds to give Model its final point. Schwarm and senior setter Ashley Whaley were selected to the MISAL First Team, and Lanham Christian also garnered the plaque for being regular season champs, but the mood was somber as the Lions headed for the team bus.

"I think we got comfortable when we had that [six]-point lead in the fourth game," said Schwarm (18 kills), referring to the Lions' 16-10 lead in a game Model eventually won, 26-24. "I knew the streak [of 31 consecutive wins] had to an end sometime. I was just hoping that it wasn't tonight. We just stopped talking to one another that last game. I feel bad for the seniors. We got this close after getting this far and it was tough not to win the championship again."

Model (21-10) rallied from an early 8-4 deficit to win the first game,

25-18. Lanham Christian controlled the second game en route to a 25-14 win. But Model fought through a late Lions' rally to win the third game, 25-23, behind setters Anna Lynch and Carolina Kohn and hitters Walcott and Chelsea Korn.

Lanham raced to a 16-10 lead midway through the fourth game behind a brief service run from eighth-grader Ayanna Lee and solid play at the net from Ansong. But Model rallied behind Kohn's serving and setting, with Wolcott, Jessica Nortley and Korn scoring solid kills. With Korn serving, Model reached match point.

"There was really never a point in that fourth game where I thought we were going to lose that game," said Lanham Christian coach Randy Burr. "We went up 16-10 and I thought we had control of that game and then I thought we would take the tie-breaker. But I have to give Model credit. Their girls fought hard. We had a few service errors and that was probably the difference in the match."

Lanham Christian players committed 15 service errors in the match, including one each from Schwarm, Whaley and Ansong in the fourth game. Ansong also missed the ball on two kill attempts at key points in that game.

Schwarm and Whaley earned MISAL First Team honors, as did Wolcott from Model, and Ulyssia Richmond from Riverdale Baptist. Ansong was selected to the second team, while Riverdale Baptist's Brooke Archer and Tiara Hawkins were named honorable mention.

E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net.