By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
The Dowagiac Middle School eighth grade Orange and Black volleyball teams hosted Lakeshore Tuesday afternoon.
The Orange team split its match with the Lady Lancers, winning the first game 25-11 and dropping the second game, 23-25.
"It was a great match to watch," Dowagiac coach Ryan Frontczak said. "Our girls played really well as a team."
Leading the squad in kills and blocks was Victoria Robison. Miranda East and Kaisha Martin were the top servers for the Chieftains.
Sammy Mathews and Erin Stanton topped the team in assists.
The Black team lost in three games to Lakeshore.
The Lady Lancers won 28-26, 25-23 and 15-12.
"The girls really played well against Lakeshore," coach Dawn East said. "Much better communication tonight by all."
Top servers for Dowagiac were Liz Huff, Alyssa Batty, Tara Sova and Shatesha White.
The seventh grade Orange team defeated the Lady Lancers on the road, 17-25, 25-23 and 15-11.
Shelby Bruens led the Chieftains in serving with 15 points. Dowagiac also got 14 points from Megan Hojara and 10 points from Alyssa Groth. Rylie Cox led all hitters with three kills.
The Black team dropped a three game decision to Lakeshore.
The Lady Lancers won 19-25, 25-16 and 15-12.
Schuyler Saylor led the team with seven points. Dominique Hood and Regina Kennedy both finished with six points.
The seventh and eighth grade volleyball teams are both in action today.
The Chieftains will travel to St. Joe Upton for its matches, which are slated to begin at 4 p.m.
DMS wrestling
The Dowagiac Middle School wrestling team won 15 of 34 matches against visiting Niles Ring Lardner on Tuesday.
Winning matches for the Chieftains were Sam Courtney, Anthony Russell, Steven Bannow, Anthony Nelson and Ricky Roach.
Picking up a pair of wins were Tyler Frese, Tyler Dean, Zach Hyatt, Logan Slabaugh and Steven Baylock.
"We are really happy about the way the team wrestled last night," Dowagiac coach Andy Crawley said. "We are tuning up for our last week of competition. It should be exciting."
On Monday afternoon the Chieftains traveled to Stevensville to compete in a five-team dual.
Also competing were River Valley, Cassopolis and Paw Paw.
Picking up victories for the Chieftains were Colten Evans, Eric Charles, Brett Smith, Nelson, Roach and Matt Dodd.
Winning two matches were Frese, Dean, Hyatt, Baylock and Ryan McCuddy.
On Saturday, Dowagiac competed in the Coloma Invitational.
The Chieftains, who were competing in their first invitational of the year, finished ninth out of 14 schools.
Frese was the lone champion for Dowagiac.
Finishing third were Roach and Hyatt. Taking fourth were Evans and McCuddy.
The Chieftains return to the mat on Monday when they host South Haven and Eau Claire.
Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
On Saturday, March 17, Dowagiac will travel to Edwardsburg for an invitational tournament. Wrestling will begin at 9 a.m.