COLOMA – The Edwardsburg volleyball team knocked off regular season champion Coloma 3-1 in the championship match of the Lakeland Conference Tournament on Saturday.

The Lady Eddies, who by winning the conference tournament earn a share of the overall league title with the Lady Comets.

Edwardsburg defeated cross-county rival Cassopolis in the first round 25-5, 25-17 and 25-18 before defeating Berrien Springs in the semifinals 25-15, 19-25, 25-21 and 25-20.

In the title match, the Lady Eddies topped Coloma 25-22, 25-20, 15-25 and 25-22.

“We are really excited to be finishing first in Conference,” Edwardsburg coach Sarah Benjamin said. “You know I knew the girls could win conference, but getting them to believe in themselves was the challenge and I am glad they finally believed!

“It was very emotional especially for my five seniors, who all start on the team. I have an experienced team, so to see them achieve this is great.”

Buchanan finished third in the league tournament after defeating Berrien Springs 25-19, 25-15 and 25-17.

In the opening round, the Lady Bucks knocked off rival Brandywine 25-12, 23-25, 25-19, 22-25 and 15-4.

In the semifinals, Buchanan was defeated by Coloma 25-14, 25-19 and 25-17.

Edwardsburg statistics
Jenn Mackling 5 blocks, 93 assists, 29 digs, 9 aces
Allie Koontz 24 kills, 5 aces, 9 blocks, 9 assists, 45 digs
Erin Burks 11 blocks, 19 kills, 2 aces
Maddi Mueller 67 digs, 4 aces, 1 kill
Elise Mackling 45 kills, 7 blocks, 44 digs, 7 aces
Emily Kozinski 17 digs, 20 kills, 4 blocks
Ellen Miller 10 kills, 6 blocks, 17 digs
Paige Mueller 3 aces, 1 kill, 43 digs

Edwardsburg…3
Lakeshore…1
STEVENSVILLE – The Lady Eddies advanced to the semifinals of the Class B District Volleyball Tournament Monday night with a sweep of host Lakeshore.

The first match of the night saw Edwardsburg win big (25-14) in the first set, but the final two sets were a battle.

The Lady Eddies came out on top 25-22 and 25-23 to advance to the semifinals.
Edwardsburg faced Lakeland Conference foe Berrien Springs Wednesday night for the right to advance to the championship match on Saturday at Lakehore High School at 7 p.m.

Paige Miller got the Lady Eddies off to a great start against Lakeshore, serving up nine consecutive points, which included four aces.

“Paige has gotten her jump serve down this year,” Benjamin said. “She got us started and our hitters did really well.”

Edwardsburg cruised home with the first set win, but was in for a much tougher tussle in sets two and three.

Again the Lady Eddies got off to a fast start and led 20-12 before the Lady Lancers came storming back to cut the deficit to 23-22.

Elise Mackling’s back-to-back kills gave Edwardsburg the set and a 2-0 lead in the match.

It looked like Lakeshore was going to pull out the win in the third set and extend the match, however, after taking a 16-12 lead on the Lady Eddies, Lakeshore’s offense seemed to stall and Edwardsburg rallied to get back into the set.

Back-to-back hitting errors by the Lady Lancers made it a 16-15 match and Emily Kozinski’s kill squared the set.

Jenn Mackling gave the Lady Eddies a one-point advantage and another Kozinski kill, followed by Elise Mackling’s kill gave Edwardsburg a 23-20 advantage.

But Lakeshore wasn’t quite ready to give up just yet.

Kills by Lauren Chorny and Kaitlyn Price made it a 23-22 score, forcing Benjamin into a time out.

The Lady Eddies put the match away coming out of the huddle by getting a kill from Allie Koontz to make it 24-23 and then a hittting error by the Lady Lancers gave Edwardsburg its winning point.

Edwardsburg statistics
Elise Mackling – 13 kills, 13 digs, 1 block
Paige Mueller – 4 aces, 11 digs
Emily Kozinski – 10 kills, 8 digs
Maddi Mueller – 44 digs, 1 ace
Jenn Mackling – 25 assists, 2 aces, 4 digs
Ellen Miller – 4 blocks, 2 kills
Erin Burks – 3 blocks, 1 kill
Allie Koontz – 8 kills, 10 digs

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.

The Lady Eddies face St. Joseph tonight in the district championship match.