Lake View volleyball looking for strong finish

By David Shelton

Senior Writer

Lake View – The 2023 Lake View High volleyball team had a magical season, reaching the Class A Lower State finals under first-year head coach Angie King.

This fall has also been good overall but it has been more difficult for King. The team lost several key players to graduation and while there are a handful of returners, the roster looks significantly different this season.

Nonetheless, Lake View has competed well through September and is looking to peak in October in hopes of another deep playoff run.

Entering play on Oct. 7, Lake View was 6-4 overall with a 5-3 mark in region 6-A play. The Wild Gators sit behind Carver’s Bay and Latta in the league standings with two losses to Carver’s Bay and one loss to Latta.

King has eight seniors on the roster this season with the top seniors being Kay Bugarin and Ta’Kiyah Waters. Bugarin is an all-around performer, leading the team in assists and service aces, while being third in kills and second in defensive digs.

Waters, a middle blocker, leads the team in blocks and is second overall in kills.

Leading in kills is sophomore Zy’Kiyah Waters with well over 100 kills.

Other seniors include Sarah Price, Kaylynn Turner, Hollie Scott, Da’Myra Page, Jamie Davis and Sophie Rogers.

Juniors on the roster include Simone Vaught, Nevaeh Price (leads the team in digs), Kirsten McClellan and Shayla Johnson. Sophomore Chloe Cox rounds out the roster.

Football closing in on region title

Though never one to count his chickens before they hatch, Lake View head football coach Daryl King knows that his team controls its own destiny as it pertains to the region 6-A title.

Lake View won their first three games of the region slate and has remaining games against Carver’s Bay, Latta and Green Sea Floyds. The Wild Gators won five of their first six games overall.

The lone loss came in the second game of the season to Mullins, 22-21. Lake View held a 14-0 halftime lead before weather forced a postponement. They returned a few days later and failed to regain the momentum.

“We learned a big lesson,” King said of the loss. “We learned that regardless of the circumstances, you have to be able to finish. Sometimes a loss can do some good if you learn from it. I think this team learned that we are not good enough to just show up and win. We have to show up and play, play hard, play to the end.”

Overall, the coach feels his team is on a good track. Not because they are winning but because they continue to show weekly improvement.

“That’s all we preach, be better than we were the day before,” he said. “We don’t want to peak early but we want to continue to improve and become more consistent in what we do each week. I can honestly say I feel like we have gotten better each week so far. Hopefully that continues and we can play our very best football in the playoffs.”

The running game continues to be quite productive for the offense. Tyrell Foxworth leads the team with just over 850 yards. In an Oct. 4 win over Hannah-Pamplico, Foxworth rushed for 223 yards on 23 carries with two touchdowns.