Niles senior Sarah Ferguson spikes the ball against St. Joseph Wednesday night in a Big 16 Conference West Division match. The Bears swept the Vikings 3-0. (Daily Star photo/SCOTT NOVAK)

By SCOTT NOVAK

Niles Daily Star

The Niles varsity volleyball team may be in the middle of its season, but the Vikings are having to start all over again.

After the departure of Chantal and Miranda Baker earlier this week, Niles coach Linda Goodrich has had to reshuffle here lineup and as a result, things kind of got off track Wednesday night.

After playing visiting St. Joseph to a pair of close sets, the Vikings couldn’t keep up the momentum and fell to the Bears 3-0 in a Big 16 Conference West Division match.

Niles and St. Joseph played to a pair of tight sets with the Bears winning 25-20 and 26-24.

Everyone was anticipating an exciting finish to the match, but when Kathryn Snyder rolled off 12 unanswered service points, St. Joseph had a lopsided 25-13 victory.

“We did an entire lineup change,” Goodrich said after the match. “We had some issues that resulted in some changes. I was really proud of Sarah Ferguson, who stepped up to the plate and played middle.

“But it’s just so tough for us because it’s such a drastic change in our game plan. We have always been able to rely on huge blocks in the middle and we didn’t have that. So we had to change and play an entirely different style of defense,” she added.

The Vikings had a lead in all three sets, but were unable to hold off the charging Bears.

Niles led 8-5 in the opening set before St. Joseph caught up at 11-11.

After the two teams battled back and forth for the next seven points, the Bears rallied to take the first set 25-20.

The Vikings led 6-2 in the second set only to fall behind 7-6 thanks in part to the serving of Snyder.

She served up four consecutive points, including three aces, to give St. Joseph an 11-6 advantage.

Niles rallied to tie the match at 11-11 and then the two teams traded small leads until the Bears scored back-to-back points to win 26-24.

Ferguson staked the Vikings to a 4-0 lead in the final set and Niles led 10-5 before St. Joseph rallied back once again.

The score was knotted at 10-10 and 12-12 before Snyder ran off her 12 straight winners to seal the victory.

Niles statistics

Kills

Michelle Briand 8

Ashley Love 5

Digs

Michelle Briand 7

Taylor Brandstatter 6

Blocks

Love 5

Rachel Zeider 4

Assists

Cortney Shirrell 11

JV volleyball

The Niles JV volleyball team defeated visiting St. Joseph 25-16 and 25-18 Wednesday night.

Hannah Porterfield had eight assists and Karissa Loveall eight kills.

Lashonda Greene and Karon Nichols both finished with two blocks.

Freshmen volleyball

The Niles freshmen team beat the Bears as well, 25-10 and 25-20.

The Vikings are now 9-3-2.

Buchanan vs. Coloma

The Buchanan volleyball team was defeated by Coloma Wednesday night in Lakeland Conference play 18-25, 25-17, 25-18 and 25-11.

Buchanan statistics

Audrey Oake 3 blocks, 30 kills, 10 digs, 2 aces

Kelsie Patrick 5 digs, 4 kills

Rachel Boneck 2 kills, 5 digs, 6 blocks

Dani Dale 1 ace, 3 digs, 3 kills

Erin Glavin 3 kills, 8 digs

Pachia Benson 35 assists, 9 digs

Brooke Schultz 1 ace, 12 digs

Baylie Lee 6 digs

Edwardsburg vs. Bridgman

The Edwardsburg volleyball team swept Bridgman 3-0 in Lakeland Conference play on Wednesday night.

The Eddies (12-6-6, 2-1 Lakeland) defeated the Bees 25-20, 25-18 and 25-12.

Edwardsburg statistics

Nikki Brady 11 kills, 3 blocks and 2 digs

Paige Mueller 55 digs and 1 kill

Emily Getz 22 assists, 1 kill, 10 digs and 4 aces

Emily Kozinski 11 kills, 1 block, 1 ace and 6 digs