By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
CASSOPOLIS – Despite the Lady Bucks taking a 3-0 win over Cassopolis in girls' varsity volleyball, Buchanan coach Lisa Holok knows there is room for improvement in her team.
Wednesday's match opened Lakeland Conference action for both teams with each team getting back into action after the Labor Day break.
"Our first game tonight was a good testament to how we normally play," Holok stated following a 25-12 win. "After that we were really flat and we had a ton of unforced errors. Cass did an amazing job on defense. They touched a lot of our balls at the net so I give a lot of credit to them."
Game two was a battle the entire game with 15 ties and eight lead changes. The largest lead of the game came when the Rangers took an 18-15 lead. The Lady Bucks scraped their way back into the contest to tie the game at 18.
With the score tied at 25 a kill by Courtney Miller, who led the Lady Bucks with 11, gave the slim lead back to Buchanan. Anna Callahan served up the final point for the 27-25 Buchanan win.
"This was our first game since coming off break, we did a lot of switching, we changed our defense," Cassopolis coach Erica Boulanger said following her teams loss. "I'm really, really proud of the way they played today. Even though we let that second game get away these girls are much better on staying up and we've been working so they won't get down after those tight games, and so we can play it through point by point and move on to our next match."
"This is one of the best Cass teams that I have seen in four years. It's early and we are still working on stuff and I know we have a lot to work on tomorrow," Holok said. "We'll keep moving in the right direction and this just gave us a good idea what we need to work on. Courtney (Miller) said it best in the end, 'that really wasn't us,' and she's right it wasn't."
"We had some really great volley's tonight and they are really fighting hard for each point," Boulanger said of her Lady Rangers' play.
In the final game Cass jumped out early 5-2 before Buchanan took the lead 13-9 and extended that lead to 17-13.
The Lady Rangers worked hard and tied the game at 17 fighting to stay alive to force a fourth game but they were unable pull ahead and dropped game three 25-21 as Rachel Downs picked up her third ace of the night to end match and send the Lady Bucks home with a 3-0 league win.
Miller led the Lady Bucks with 11 kills and nine digs, while Jayme O'Bryant finished with eight kills, 19 digs and three aces.
Buchanan also got seven kills, three aces and two blocks from Callahan. Emily Ross finished the night with 29 assists, 10 digs and three kills, while Downs added 20 digs and three aces to the Lady Bucks' totals.
Alexis Lenox had eight digs and two kills and Rachel Briggs two kills for Buchanan.
Cassopolis (6-10, 0-1 Lakeland) got three kills each from Branna Wyant and Molly Vite.
Nicole Green finished the night with five aces and two kills, while Jessica Biek also had two kills. Reva Ivens finished with two blocks and three aces.
Stats:
Cassopolis 6-10 overall, 0-1 Lakeland
Samantha Vlasicak, Assist-1
Branna Wyant, Kills- 3
Nicole Green, Aces- 5, Kills- 2
Jessica Biek, Kills- 2
Symone Pompey, Kills- 1
Molly Vite, Kills- 3
Reva Ivens, Blocks- 2, Aces- 3
Buchanan 0-1 Lakeland
Courtney Miller, Kills- 11
Jayme O'Bryant, Digs- 19, Kills-8, Aces- 3
Anna Callahan, Kills- 7
Rachel Downs, Digs- 20, Aces- 3
Buchanan pictures
027- Rachel Downs
043- Jayme O'Bryant (left) and Courtney Miller (right)
046- Jayme O'Bryant