Grand Night for Lee's Hard-Working MaKayla Schuerer

LEE, Mass. -- MaKayla Schuerer worked for nearly three years and countless hours in the gym to get 998 assists for the Lee High volleyball team.

 

She wasted no time getting the next two.

 

Schuerer set up Mya Andre for a kill early in the first set Monday to give the Wildcats a 4-2 lead in an eventual four-set loss to Agawam.

 

"It means a lot," Schuerer said. "Freshman year, I watched Suri Lee get her 1,000th assist. And now I finally got mine.

 

"It was a goal I set in the beginning of the season, when we talked about team and personal goals. And I'm glad this is the team I got to achieve that with."

 

Lee coach Julia Warner was not surprised that Schuerer was the latest Wildcat to hit the milestone.

 

"MaKayla as a player is special in a way that she's the kind of hard worker who is the first in the gym and the last out," Warner said. "She's always picking everyone up around her. Very knowledgeable about the game and has worked incredibly hard and deserves all the accolades that this special accomplishment brings."

 

Unfortunately for Schuerer and the Wildcats, her special night did not also bring a win, but Lee overcame a rough start to give Agawam all it could handle before succumbing, 25-12, 15-25, 25-22, 25-22.

 

Andre led the offense with 11 kills, and Autumn Schwab pulled up 22 digs.

 

Schuerer finished with 10 assists and 10 digs to go with three aces.

 

Agawam took control of the first set with a nine-point service run by Megan Ball to take a 12-7 lead. The visitors put the match away with a 10-point run later in the set to get to set point.

 

Taryn Crowley and Stefanee Phillips were devastating on the front line for Agawam in that first set.

 

The visitors' hitting percentage fell off the second set, and Lee took advantage, pulling ahead, 14-7, with a six-point Juliana Schuerer service run midway through the set and putting it away when Schwab served seven straight points -- including a pair of aces -- late.

 

The third set was a back-and-forth affair with neither team leading by more than three points.

 

Lee held its last lead at 20-18, but a service error gave Agawam a side out, and Erica Majka served two straight to take the lead.

 

It was a one-point margin a couple of side outs later when Crowley went to the back line, and she served out the match, getting some help from a fluky ball on Lee's side that nearly settled on top of a lighting fixture before falling to the floor on set point.

 

Lee came out strong to start the fourth, taking a 12-7 lead on Kayla Clark's serve.

 

But a couple of side outs later, Agawam's Grace Frasier served eight straight to get to 20-13 and appeared to have sealed the deal. Ball served three in a row to get to match point at 24-16.

 

But after Lee got the ball back, it gave it to Karalynn Hopkins, who served six straight points to keep the match alive, getting an ace and a MaKayla Schuerer tip at the net along the way.

 

Agawam finally was able to end the match on a spike by Phillips to drop Lee to 9-6 going into Friday's match at West Springfield.

 

"We were able to come back and take a set," Warner said. "Unfortunately, our offensive punch wasn't there as much as it has been and our pass wasn't on. With our pass not being on, we weren't able to hit as much as I'd like.

 

"It was close right up until the end, even though we started out with quite a deficit in the first set. They were able to find some fire in them and were able to fight back. We gave it all we've got, but it just wasn't there."