The Dowagiac volleyball team unveiled its new offense against Coloma and snapped a seven-match losing streak Thursday night.

After a few hiccups in the opening set, the Chieftains got comfortable with the next offense and rolled past visiting Coloma 26-24, 25-12 and 25-14 in Wolverine Conference West Division action.

“For them to pick up that offense that fast and understand it was a huge surprise to me,” Dowagiac coach Vince Strefling said. “It frees up players like Anne (Ennesser) and get her the ball a lot. She is free to do whatever she wants. She can runs slides, quicks, high balls, whatever she wants.”

Ennesser responded with a huge night that included 19 kills and three blocks.

The entire Dowagiac team seemed to grasp the concept of the new offense right from the start.

The Chieftains opened up a big lead in the opening set, but then struggled. Coloma took advantage of the situation and not only caught Dowagiac, but took a 24-22 lead.

Dowagiac tied the match at 24-24 and then got a kill from Amanda Badner to make it 25-24 and an ace from Taylor Hulett to pick up the victory.

The Comets were no match for the Chieftains the rest of the night.

Dowagiac jumped out to a 13-8 lead in the second set and led 12-9 in the third and final set.

“You just saw a little glimpse of what it can do,” Strefling said. “So we are very excited about that.”

Beside Ennesser’s totals, Dowagiac also got seven kills and 12 digs from Badner, eight digs from Natalie Davis and four digs from Hannah Whitaker.

Hullett led the Chieftains with four aces, while Kassidy Binns finished the night with 27 assists.

 

Dowagiac d. Coloma 3-0

Set scores

26-24, 25-12, 25-14

 

Dowagiac statistics

Kills

Anne Ennesser 19

Amanda Badner 7

 

Digs

Badner 12

Natalie Davis 8

Hannah Whitaker 4

 

Blocks

Ennesser 3

Mary Magin 1

 

Aces

Taylor Hulett 4

 

Assists

Kassidy Binns 27