By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Just when you thought the unthinkable couldn't happen, it did.
The Brandywine varsity volleyball team suffered its first conference loss to Coloma Wednesday night. The drops the Bobcats to second place in the Lakeland Conference. Both teams were tied for first going into the game.
Brandywine was able to win the first game 25-23. Coloma took an early lead to get the game started, but the Bobcats were able to catch up and tie the game at nine from an error on Coloma's side.
Both teams took turns sharing the lead and stayed within one point of each other. A tip over the net from senior Nikki Cooper put Brandywine up 15-13.
Kelli Zache gave the Bobcats a much needed kill to put them up by three, but an error on Brandywine's end added a point to the Comets' score. Cooper and Emily Whitney both added back-to-back kills for the Bobcats to put them back up 18-15.
Brandywine was able to hang on to the lead and keep a comfortable gap, but Coloma wasn't ready to give up and came back from being behind by five points. An ace on Coloma's end put it back within one point of the Bobcats, 24-23. The Comets made a serving error on the next play giving Brandywine the 25-23 first game win.
The second game went almost the same as the first with both teams sharing the lead and staying within a point or two of each other.
Coloma was able to stay ahead of the Bobcats for quite a while, but a mistake on the Comets' side allowed Brandywine to tie it up at 12. Katie Tuohey tipped the ball over the net to give the Bobcats a 13-12 lead. Brandywine was able to hold on to the lead, but a ball into the net from Ashley Antus tied the score up for Coloma.
After a long nail-biting volley on the next play, the Bobcats ended up with the point on a block from Tuohey. The score quickly tied up again after Brooke Allen served the ball into the net for Brandywine. Coloma took the lead on the next play and never let it go.
Brandywine gave a tough effort to try to take the lead back, but a block from Coloma gave them the 25-21 second game victory.
Tuohey got the third game rolling for the Bobcats on a block from a Comets kill, but Coloma quickly fired back to tie the score at one. Brandywine kept an early lead, but watched it quickly slip away as due to some errors allowing Coloma to take the lead. A kill from Whitney tied the game back up at eight. Coloma took the lead 9-8 when a block from Brandywine went out of bounds, but a kill from Cooper tied it right back up at nine. Brandywine took the lead after that going ahead 15-11 at one point, but the Bobcats again watched that lead go away and Coloma scored the next 11 points in a row, holding Brandywine's score a 15. The 22-15 lead was the biggest lead of the night and also hurt Brandywine in the end. Coloma took the third game 25-21.
Coloma was able to take the fourth game 25-20 to give them the game victory and bragging rights for the first place spot in the conference.
Brandywine struggled with its passes and serves and couldn't pull off any kills from Coloma's blocks.
"We told them the middle wasn't open, they couldn't hit the ball there, but they just wanted to hit it there. They got in too much of a panic and didn't know what to do with the ball." Whitney said.
Whitney had 30 assists, 10 kills, four blocks and two aces for the Bobcats. Cooper had 12 digs and 12 kills. Kelli Zache had 11 digs. Kendra Zache had eight kills and Tuohey had four blocks, two aces for Brandywine.
The Bobcats will travel to Coldwater for a tournament this Saturday.
On Monday they will host Niles in a non-conference match-up.