By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The Niles varsity volleyball team didn't exactly get what it wanted this past weekend at the Big 16 Tournament held at St. Joseph High School. The Vikings were hoping to defeat Lakeshore in their first match of the day, instead they were bumped into the losing bracket and finished 14th overall.
Niles was defeated by Lakeshore in the first match and Harper Creek in the secondmatch. The Vikings recieved their one and only win from Benton Harbor in the third match and fell to Kalamazoo Loy Norrix in the fourth and final match of the tournament.
Sturgis was able to claim the Big 16 championship spot. It beat St. Joseph in the semifinal round and Portage Central in the final match.
Portage Central beat Portage Northern in their semifinal match to advance to the finals.
Amber Peters had 52 assists, nine digs, eight points, three aces and two kills for the Vikings. Claire Molnar had 14 kills, 13 points, seven digs and two aces. Karly Kennedy had 10 digs, eight points, seven kills and one ace. Sam Brawley had 19 points, 12 digs and fve aces. Kaylee Bonner had 19 points, 10 digs and four aces. Ashley Pingel had 18 points, 15 digs and four aces. Kaylynn Stephenson had 10 points, six digs and four aces. Brittney Passig had five kills, two digs. Melissa Olsen had four kills, four blocks. Dagmar Hoffman had three kills, three blocks and two digs. Leigh Tyler had one kills one dig and Mehgan Flynn had four kills for Niles.
Niles will be hosting the District Tournament this weekend. The Vikings will face St. Joseph at 10 a.m. Berrien Springs will face Edwardsburg at 12 p.m. Lakeshore and Coloma both drew first round byes.
CONSTANTINE - The Edwardsburg varsity volleyball team defeated the host Lady Falcons to win the Constantine Mini Tournament Monday night.
Edwardsburg defeated the Lady Falcons in the title match, 29-31, 25-19 and 15-13.
In the semifinals, Edwardsburg defeated Martin, 25-18 and 25-15. Constantine defeated Brandywine, 25-20, 23-25 and 15-9.
Brandywine was the favorite to win the tournament, but fell to Constantine in the semifinals, which surprised a lot of peole.
No other information was available at press time for the Brandywine team.
The Bobcats return to action this Saturday at Watervliet for District play. Brandywine will face Eau Claire at 12 p.m. Buchanan will open up the tournament with River Valley at 10 a.m.
COLOMA - The Dowagiac varsity volleyball team wrapped up its regular season Monday night with a three-game loss to Lakeland Conference champion Coloma.
The host Lady Comets defeated the Chieftains, 13-25, 16-25 and 16-25.
Brittney Reist led Dowagiac with nine kills, while Ashley Urbanski finished with five kills.
Anne O'Keefe led the team with nine digs. Kim Luthringer finished with seven digs.
Amy Wood had a block and an ace for Dowagiac, which also got a block from Reist.
Brittany Bruens had 11 assists for the Chiefftains, who will face Big 16 Conference champion Sturgis in the semifinals of the Division 2 district tournament on Saturday.
The Chieftains and Lady Trojans will play in the semifinals at approximately 11 a.m. at Sturgis High School.
Paw Paw and Vicksburg will open the tournament at 10 a.m. with a first round match.
The winner of the Paw Paw-Vicksburg match will take on Three Rivers, which also received a first round bye, following the Dowagiac-Sturgis semifinal.
The championship match will be played 30 minutes after the last semifinal match.