Girls volleyball: Senior Lainey Green keys Lockport in sectional semifinal win

OSWEGO – Lainey Green has made special connections with her teammates this season despite the difference in age. The senior setter utilized some of the powerful youth at her disposal to get Lockport into position to compete for its first sectional title since 2004.

Green consistently set the table for freshman outside hitter Bridget Ferriter and freshman middle blocker Kyla Mitchell, two players she has come to know closely over the season.

“They always make me look good,” Green said of Mitchell and Ferriter. “All the credit goes to them.”

Green had 22 assists and four kills in Lockport’s 25-23, 25-18 victory over Oswego in the Class 4A Oswego Sectional semifinal.

Mitchell finished the evening with four kills and a block.

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 13

Lockport players celebrate after defeating Oswego in two sets to advance to the class 4A Oswego Sectional Final at Oswego High School on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023. (Sean King for Shaw Local News)

“My freshman middle is basically my sister,” Green said. “She’s at my house literally every day. I took her under my wing, and I was like, ‘this is your season, you’re going to be a big part for us.’ ”

Their relationship spans three years, and it has helped them get to business on the court.

“Kyla and my sister are best friends,” Green said. “We share everything with each other. I always pick her up when she’s down or makes a mistake and she picks me up.

“It’s very businesslike on the court, but we know that we’ve both got each other’s back.”

Green has been a consistent floor general all season for the Porters.

“She’s been running the 5-1 for us all year,” Lockport coach Nick Mraz said. “As a 5-1 setter against [Oswego’s] outsides she’s a little undersized. She doesn’t like hearing that, but it’s because she runs that floor, the way she makes smart decisions attacking and distributing the ball, she’s the heart.”

Lockport (29-9) ended Oswego’s (29-7) season under first-year-coach Gary Mosley. The Panthers struggled passing the ball, and it hurt the rest of the offense.

“Serve receive at the end really put us in trouble,” Mosley said. “We couldn’t get going and we got predictable. That’s what we try to do to other teams. We got a taste of our own medicine.”

The Porters jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set. The two teams then traded runs, with Riley Borrowman doing a lot of the heavy lifting for the Panthers, and Ferriter leading the way for the Porters.

Late in the set, the Porters trailed 19-16, but Lockport put together a run thanks to two Panther errors and blocks from Mitchell and Schurig, the Porters were able to tie the score at 19. The Porters put the set away with a Jenna Kolosta kill, on an assist from Green, and an error by the Panthers.

Oswego jumped out to a three-point lead in the second set, but the Porters quickly turned it into a 6-4 lead of their own. The two teams stayed within striking distance for a while, but the Panthers would not lead after they went ahead 9-8 and were outscored 15-9 to finish the set.

“Even though [Oswego] got theirs here and there, we were able to slow them down, and because they were out of system they got more predictable,” Mraz said.

The Panthers were led by Sidney Hamaker and Kelsey Foster with seven kills each. Senior middle blocker Riley Borrowman had four kills.

Borrowman added two blocks.

Mosley does not want this last loss to be the mark of this team. He wants this team to be remembered for all the history they made.

“It’s just tough on them,” Mosley said. “We had a great season, we broke records, we won a regional. We put a sticker up, and that was our goal. We’re going to come back next season looking for more.”

Mosley pointed up to a banner in the gym that was blank.

“It’s waiting for us.”

Lockport looks forward to Joliet West on Wednesday, an opponent it lost to in regionals last year and lost to in three against in a tournament a few weeks ago.

“It was a tough three-set match,” Green said. “I think we can pull it off.”