Dowagiac’s Katie Lorenz sets the ball against Three Rivers Wednesday night. The Wildats defeated the Chieftains 3-0. (The Daily News/Scott Novak)

By SCOTT NOVAK

Dowagiac Daily News

Playing for the third straight night and fourth time in five days, the Dowagiac volleyball team looked a little tired Wednesday night in its Wolverine Conference match against visiting Three Rivers.

The Chieftains seemed to be a step behind the Wildcats all night and as a result, Three Rivers posted a 25-13, 25-20 and 25-14 victory.

“I think being out of gas is part of it,” answered Dowagiac coach Bill Anderson about his team’s effort Wednesday night. “Most of it is they are learning the game. We’re out of gas yes, they have played five matches in three days. That takes a lot out of you. But we are also out of knowledge. My girls just don’t know the game.”

Dowagiac came out on fire and quickly grabbed a 5-1 lead on the Wildcats as Kaisha Martin and Hope Daniel recorded kills and Katie Lorenz added a pair of service winners.

But Three Rivers came storming back and tied the match at 5-5 and then outscored the Chieftains 10-5 to open up a 15-10 advantage.

Another 10-3 run in points ended the first set and gave the Wildcats the momentum, or so it appeared.

Dowagiac battled Three Rivers tooth-and-nail in the opening of the second set, which was tied at 9-9.

Four straight points opened up a 13-9 advantage for the Wildcats and despite three kills from Martin to help keep it close, Three Rivers went on to win 25-20.

Dowagiac was never in the third set, falling behind quickly 5-1.

Three Rivers just continued to build on its advantage and rolled to the victory.

On Tuesday night, Dowagiac competed in the Coloma Quad.

The Chieftains were defeated by the host Comets 25-15 and 25-17, by Lake Michigan Catholic 25-17 and 25-17 and by South Haven 25-18, 25-18.

Dowagiac resident Heather Leonard, who plays for Coloma, had eight kills and five digs on the night.

JV volleyball

The Dowagiac JV team competed in a quad event at South Haven on Tuesday.

The Chieftains defeated the host Rams 25-21 and 26-24. Dowagiac lost to LMC 16-25, 25-21 and 15-11. Coloma topped the Chieftains 25-16 and 25-16.

Casey Weldy and Rachel Bailey both scored 10 points against South Haven, while Gabi Madison and Rachel McLaughlin each finished with eight points.

Kristyn Turner had 20 digs for Dowagiac. Victoria Janssen and Whitney Donaldson both had five kills. Janssen also had four blocks.

Against LMC, Turner had 14 points and Weldy 13. Rosie Ennesser and McLaughlin each had seven assists. Turner finished with 18 digs

Turner and Bailey each had eight points against the Comets.

The Dowagiac JV volleyball defeated Buchanan Monday by a score of 25-15, 25-23.

Leading the way for Dowagiac was Donaldson with eight kills, Turner with seven digs and Ennesser with eight assists.