By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
BUCHANAN – It wasn't the lack of effort Wednesday evening that caused the Buchanan varsity volleyball team to drop a Lakeland Conference match to Coloma 3-0.
Visiting Coloma came in, minus head coach Vince Strefling, with a streak of over four years of not losing a conference game, according to Coloma assistant coach Julie Bartholomew.
"We have a big target on us and teams come out ready to play in the first game," she said. "Tonight was no different as the Lady Bucks took the Lady Comets to the limit in game one. Coloma had to rally from a 18-14 deficit to fight off a Buchanan upset win. We are a slow starting team and tonight was no exception. When you have a team ready to play and we have a slow start that's not a good combo."
Coloma preserved their streak with a narrow 27-25 win. The Comets went on to take the second game 25-13 and finished the night with a 25-21 victory to seal the match.
"I was extremely pleased with the way we played to night," Buchanan coach Lisa Holok stated after the loss. "Our defense was phenomenal, we did an exceptional job executing our blocks and they did exactly what we worked on in practice yesterday so I'm not disappointed at all."
Coloma trailed 22-18 when Bartholomew called a time out to settle the team. After the time out the Comets closed the gap to one 23-22 and with that swing of momentum Holok called her team to the bench during a time out to reassure her team of their play. The Comets then tied the game at 24 and took a one point lead. Buchanan came back to tie the game at 25 before Coloma sealed the victory with the final two points.
"One of our goals was to make sure they earned every one of their points and the ones they got were definitely earned. There wasn't very many balls that I felt on our side that were to unforced or we just handed them the point they actually had to work pretty hard to get their points," Holok said.
Game two was the more typical Comet team. "Once coach Strefling arrived the girls settled down," Bartholomew said. With Coloma leading 4-3 Strefling arrived to take over the coaching duties. Strefling's late arrival was the result of a flat tire on his way to the game. From that point his team seemed to play more relaxed and opened up 10-4 lead and cruised to the 25-13 win.
"We came out a little deflated after the long rally first game but we bounced back in the third game and they ended wonderfully," Holok praised her teams performance. "I am just really proud of them. They fought really hard and showed a lot of heart and stuck together and did everything I asked them to do,"
Game three was tied at 16 before the Comets finished off the Lady Bucks to keep their win streak alive.
Buchanan Stats
Jayme O'Bryant 25 digs, 7 kills
Courtney Miller 24 digs, 13 kills, 1 block
Emily Ross 13 digs, 6 kills, 2 blocks, 25 assists
Anna Callahan 7 digs, 4 kills, 9 blocks
Rachel Briggs 3 digs, 2 bocks
Taylor Henry 1 block
Rachel Downs 15 digs
Alexis Lenox 17 digs, 1 kill, 3 blocks