EARLVILE — Newark has the kind of volleyball program coach Hallie May is striving to build her LaMoille/Ohio Lady Lions into one day. While they may have made strides in that direction this year, the Lady Lions found Thursday they are not there yet.

The mighty Norseman breezed to the Earlville Class 1A Regional championship, defeating the Lady Lions 25-10, 25-10. May said her team definitely encountered some jitters playing in the atmosphere of a regional championship for the first time, especially against a program like Newark’s which has become well accustomed to that setting.

“I told our girls it takes teams getting to a big game like and maybe losing big or coming home with a big win in order to advance our program. The girls have never been in a situation like this before,” May said. “The future is bright for us. The sophomore team got third in the Little Ten Tournament, so we’re headed in the right direction.”