Gladstone senior Brooklyn Lauscher delivers a serve against Westwood on Sept. 30, 2025 at Gladstone High School. (Adam Hinch/Daily Press)

GLADSTONE — Gladstone senior Lilliie Johnson came up big for the Gladstone Braves here Tuesday night as they defeated the Westwood Patriots in four sets (25-15, 20-25, 25-14, 25-19) in a Mid-Peninsula Conference volleyball matchup.

Johnson collected 17 kills on the night, including seven of them in the third set as the Braves grabbed momentum of the match.

“I was a little salty after we lost the second set,” Johnson said. “I took it up a couple notches in the fourth set and that got the team energized and we were able to regain momentum in the match.”

The Braves jumped out to an early 8-2 lead, but the Patriots responded with a five-point serving run including an ace by senior Michaela Watson to cut the deficit to one.

The Braves extended the lead to 15-10 on back-to-back kills by Johnson. Moments later Johnson again registered back-to-back kills to put the Braves up 18-11.

“There was one point where I looked at her and asked if she was a volleyball player,” Braves coach Kaitlyn Hardwick said. “We all know her primary sport is basketball and she just turned and gave me a smile and I realized at that point she wanted it more tonight.”

The Braves closed out the third set scoring seven of the last 10 points.

In the fourth set, Westwood jumped out to an early 6-3 lead. The Braves answered, scoring five of the next six points to take a 8-7 lead on a block by Johnson.

Westwood regained the lead at 9-8 and extended it to 11-8 on a kill by senior Makayla Fisher. The Braves scored the next three points to tie the game at 11. The game was tied again at 12, when senior Brooklyn Lauscher went on a four-point serving run with an ace tout the Braves up 16-12.

The Patriots cut the deficit to one at 16-15 but the Braves led the rest of the way taking the match.

The Braves will be back in action tonight as they host Iron Mountain at 7 p.m.