By DON EDEN
Dowagiac Daily News

WATERVLIET – The volleyball Class C District champion will be either female Bobcats or Bison as Brandywine along with New Buffalo advance after victories at Watervliet Wednesday evening.

New Buffalo won a trio of 25-20 games after being outscored 25-23 in the second game against Bridgman.

Juniors and freshmen from Brandywine (11-14) were too much for a senior laden squad from River Valley (6-21) in the opener with a pair of 25-21 conquests on both sides of a 25-17 second game victory.

“It will be hard on all the seniors since we have seven who all played quite a bit,” stated River Valley coach Tia Roberts. “Especially tough to see a senior team not finish better, but they worked hard and tried which is all you can ask.”

The only lead for River Valley in the first two games was the first point of the night as juniors Lauren Leonard and Kelsey Prestly led with serves and kills respectively with five points apiece.

Freshman Jessica Cooper gave the Lady Bobcats its biggest lead at 20-13 with a well placed serve.

Serving was a problem for both teams in the middle game as they traded points for most of the game with errant starts with Brandywine senior Kaley Jones being the exception with the first two points and then scored six consecutive tallies to break open an 18-16 advantage.

“Kaley stepped up to be a leader since she is a senior and this is her last district,” commented Brandywine coach Nikki Cooper, who starts two freshmen and three juniors with another from each class ready to come off the bench. “This is good experience for the three freshmen, since they have four years and will be ready when they are juniors and seniors.”

River Valley had three different one-point leads in the finale with the last being 13-12, but mistakes cost them as even a couple time outs by Roberts went to no avail.

“I wish Brandywine luck because they have a good team of hitters and setters,” said Roberts. “Number six (Prestly) is a big time player and they have an overall well rounded team that hopefully will do well.”

Seniors Kourtney Krumrie, Chelsea Baker  and Meagan Carlson led River Valley with eight, seven and five kills respectively with Baker also being credited with four aces and classmate Krista Wilkey achieved eight digs.

Leading the Lady Mustangs in assists with 20 was junior Emma Kautzky.

Jones was the statistical leader for the victors with ten assists along with Cooper and a quartet of aces, which Leonard equaled.

Prestly led Brandywine with nine kills followed with five by Cooper as junior Morgan Smallwood and frosh MacKenzie Shelton found four kills.

“I am proud of the team for pulling out a win without playing their best with our main focus being serving into the court and we also need to play harder with our ‘A’  game to win the district,” concluded Cooper.

Tonight the crown will be worn by the winner between Brandywine and New Buffalo at Watervliet with the opening whistle being blown at 7 p.m.

Buchanan…0
St. Joseph…3
Buchanan didn’t have any answers for the Big 16 Conference runner-up Wednesday night after playing the Lady Bears tough in the first set.

St. Joseph used a 10-3 run to finish off the Lady Bucks in the opener 25-15 and then went on to take the next two sets 25-10 and 25-23.

Buchanan did put up a bit of a fight in the third and final set, leading 18-11 against St. Joseph before the Lady Bears (30-32-2) came roaring back and claimed a spot against Edwardsburg in tonight’s championship match.

Kelsie Patrick and Rachel Briggs both had three kills for the Lady Bucks, who also got two kills from Kirsten Smallwood and Audrey Oake.

Briggs also had two blocks, while Rachel Downs had five digs and Jollene Borr had four digs.
Buchanan finishes the year with a 24-20-4 record.

Edwardsburg…3
Berrien Springs…2
It was a classic confrontation in the second semifinal Wednesday night as Edwardsburg and Berrien Springs battled for nearly two hours.

In the end, the Lakeland Conference champion Lady Eddies defeated the Lady Shamrocks 21-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-14 and 15-8.

It was the fourth win by Edwardsburg against Berrien Springs this season.

After surprising Edwardsburg (26-15-7) in the first set, the Lady Eddies squared the match at 1-1 by pulling out a two-point win.

The momentum switched back to the Lady Shamrocks’ side with a 25-21 win in the third set, but Edwardsburg rallied to knot the match at 2-2 with an easy 25-14 victory.

Edwardsburg also dominated the fifth and deciding set.

Elise Mackling had 25 kills, six aces, 63 digs and three blocks for the Lady Eddies, who also got 14 kills and five digs from Emily Kozinski.

Allie Koontz finished the marathon match with nine kills, 21 digs and an ace.

Jenn Mackling had 50 assists and six digs.