The Spartans swatted perennial rival Lakeside 19-25, 25-14, 25-11, 25-16 in a big Metro League win at home Tuesday.

Things looked a bit dismal for Bainbridge at the start. The Lions roared to an 8-3 advantage, and eventually doubled up the Spartans 14-7.

Bainbridge slowly crept back into the contest and came within two at 19-17, but the Spartans ran out of gas as Lakeside rolled away.

Bainbridge turned things around in the second set, however.

“It was definitely not our best game,” Bainbridge Coach Julie Miller said of the Metro matchup. “We kind of started out pretty slow and flat, energy-wise.”

“It was nice to kind of gut that win out,” she said.

To turn the game around, the Spartans picked up their serving. They also made adjustments as Lakeside found ways to keep the ball away from Spartan standout libero Emma Burgess.

“They were serving and hitting around Emma,” Miller said. “They were trying not to give anything to Emma at all; it meant our other passers and diggers had to step up.”

Still, it was no surprise. Bainbridge expected a tough challenge from the Lions, and needed a few timeouts to put the team back on track.

“Lakeside is the kind of team that keeps giving you the ball back and waits for you to make mistakes,” Miller added.

“We were making a ton of errors,” she said. “I just kept reminding them that we need to take care of the ball and not worry about what they were doing,” she said.

Lauren Sheehan had 21 kills for the Spartans, while Hannah Wagner finished with seven aces.

Emilia Dronkert contributed eight aces and 21 assists, while Emma Burgess added six digs.

Bainbridge faces its next daunting test Tuesday, Oct. 8 when the Spartans travel to Seattle Prep.