LIVE OAK, Fla. — They remained calm and confident even in the face of big deficits.  

Despite falling behind by seven points in the first set and nine points in the third set, the Lafayette Hornets left Live Oak with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-22) sweep against Suwannee on Tuesday. 

Haley Ellefson tallied 19 kills and Jasmine Lewis added seven aces and four kills as Lafayette improved to 6-3 on the season.    

“We were missing some key players so we utilized Haley a lot more tonight than usual,” said Lafayette coach Kelsey Land, whose team is playing without injured outside hitter Sarah Hamlin.

“We’ve been struggling this season with getting down and not being able to refocus. We’ll win the first two and then lose the third game. It was really big for us to be able to finish.”

Suwannee (6-3) had no answer for Ellefson, who recorded seven kills in the first set to help LHS come back from deficits of 11-5 and 20-13. 

Lewis paced LHS in the final set as Lafayette went on a 17-5 run to finish the match.

Four players recorded at least three kills for Suwannee. Jaylin Roberts and Ciandra Smith tied with a team-high four kills. 

“There were pockets in the game where we were fantastic,” said Bulldogs coach Rayanna Johnson. “We couldn’t keep that consistent for three sets.”

UP NEXT: Lafayette hosts Hamilton County on Thursday at 6 p.m. Suwannee travels to Wakulla on Friday for a 6:30 p.m. start.