If Howard volleyball coach Grant Scott had judged Wilde Lake by its three-win season from a year ago, he could have been in for a rude awakening when the Wildecats visited his gym Thursday night.
But Scott knew better.
"It's Howard County. Anyone in this county can beat anyone else. There are too many good volleyball players in this county," said Scott, whose team defeated Wilde Lake in four sets (27-25, 17-25, 25-12, 25-19. "You go from one to 12 and it doesn't matter what gym you go to, you can't sleep on anyone cause they can take it from you."
It was the first loss of the season for Wilde Lake, which was coming off of a stunning five-set victory over 14-time state champion Centennial on Tuesday.
"I think they're a little bit tired, they're on tired legs and not at 100 percent," Wilde Lake coach Caitlin Williams said. "We lapsed in a couple of places so that's what we're working on, we're a young team."
Wilde Lake led the first set, 24-22, before the Lions (4-1) battled back to win, 27-25.
But the Wildecats responded with a dominant performance in the second set, as Kelly Surkovich tallied four kills and an ace en route to a 25-17 win.
Howard came out a different team in the third set, though, jumping to a 10-2 lead and never looking back.
In the fourth set, Howard again jumped to a large lead — 11-4 — before the resilient Wildecats fought back to tie it, 12-12. The two teams traded points before Howard went on a six-point run, keyed by two Sydney Biniak kills, to take ultimate control.
Wilde Lake "played really good volleyball. Their passing, serving and defense were strong," Scott said. "But I think we were able to keep them off of their offense, especially those last two games."
In addition to Biniak on the outside, Howard got a strong performance from the middle hitter tandem of Maya Hairston and Courtney Merson.
"We knew they wanted to beat us really bad, so we said 'we have to want this more than them' and we just pushed really hard and worked hard at practice," Merson said. "Our coach said that everyone is going to expect Sydney, so the middles really have to draw and step up."
Surkovich led Wilde Lake with 14 kills, Ellah Ippah collected five kills and five aces, and sophomore setter Megan Morales tallied 30 assists and four aces.
"I'm really proud of the team that they are, they're changing the reputation that Wilde Lake volleyball has and that's encouraging," Williams said. "They're tired of being dismissed. People do whether they mean to or not, not out of malice, but just out of history. We've been trying to change that for awhile now."