The Niles JV volleyball team went 5-1 in games and 2-1-0 in matches in the SMAC Mini at Kalamazoo Central Wednesday.

Niles swept Kalamazoo Central 25-23 and 25-14, beat Mattawan 25-18 and 25-15 and split with Loy Norrix 14-25 and 25-16.

The Vikings are now 14-1-2.

“I was very impressed with the way my girls played tonight,” Niles coach Sammee Schaller said. “They started off their first set against Kalamazoo Central very timidly, but came around the second set once the girls got their confidence back after a couple huge plays.

“Peyton Cavanaugh came out playing huge tonight for us and made some very aggressive smart plays to help lead us to our wins. Carly Barton did a fantastic job at getting to the second ball and was able to score some points on some dumps, causing the other team to get out of system. Lacee Burrows showed a lot of courage tonight, stepping into a new position as an outside hitter after Aubrey Nichols, who got hurt. That was huge as a coach to see Lacee step in without any hesitation or questions and take charge out there. In the last match against Loy Norrix, the girls started off with a lot of mistakes and let up thinking they had this game before it was even over.

“Once they learned that was not the case, they started to come back around but too late in the first set, in the second set the girls took charge and beat Loy Norrix 25-16.”
SMAC Mini

Individual statistics

Taylor Gibson-1 ace, 6 points, 2 digs

Madison Cavanaugh 2 aces, 20 points, 2 blocks, 1 dig

Lacee Burrows 4 kills, 2 blocks

Carly Barton 3 aces, 11 points, 2 kills, 2 blocks, 48 assists

Antonia Palmer 5 points, 7 kills, 1 block, 3 assists

Peyton Cavanaugh 7 points, 10 kills, 1 assist, 3 blocks, 5 digs

Autumn Flick 1 ace, 5 points, 2 digs

Nola Wallace 7 kills, 11 blocks

Jaycee Myer 4 aces, 20 points, 7 digs