By SCOTT NOVAK
Niles Daily Star

Strong play at the next and more consistency led to Niles defeating visiting Kalamazoo Central on Think Pink Night, 3-1.

But it wasn’t easy.

After cruising to wins of 25-14 and 25-9, the Lady Vikings got a bit out of sync in the third set and the Maroon Giants got hot.

The result was a 26-24 Kalamazoo Central win and a battle in what turned out to be the final set.

Niles came on strong at the end to edge the Maroon Giants 25-21.

“The big let down was serve-receive passing,” Niles coach Linda Martin said. “Kalamazoo Central is really a way stronger team than they showed, so they had a lot of errors the first two games which made us look a lot better. They came alive in that third game and we weren’t able to respond.”

Martin added that the team has been working on being more consistent and not always trying to come up with a big play.

“Instead of having highs and lows, like trying to make phenominal plays we are just trying to be steady. We just want to make good plays, good plays, good plays and not have these peaks and valleys,” he said. “We are just trying to continue to make good plays. It kind of fell apart in game three, but in game for we started working our way back into it.”

Martin singled out the efforts of Devyn Roberts and Rachel Zeider at the net.

Zeider finished with 10 kills, while Roberts had two blocks.

Ashley Love also had 10 kills and Charissa Spear nine kills.

Ashley Allison led the team with 15 digs with Brittney Buti adding 10.

Brea Haines had a team-high four aces and Becca Lewis 34 assists.

Niles will compete in the Big 16 conference tournament on Saturday and then open up Class A district play at Kalamazoo Central on Tuesday against Portage Central.

Niles statistics
Kills
Ashley Love 10
Rachel Zeider 10
Charissa Spear 9
Sarah Ferguson 8
Digs
Ashley Allison 15
Brittney Buti 10
Spear 8
Becca Lewis 8
Aces
Brea Haines 4
Lewis 2
Taylor Brandstatter 2
Assists
Lewis 34
Blocks
Devyn Roberts 2