Niles volleyball team reaches semifinals

Published 4:44 am Monday, August 25, 2008

By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
NILES – The Niles varsity volleyball team reached the final four of the Gull Lake Invitational on Saturday.
The Lady Vikings were eliminated by Delton-Kellogg in the semifinals after defeating Lakeshore in the quarterfinals.
Niles reached the quaterfinals by defeating Kalamazoo Loy Norrix, Vicksburg and Novi.
Novi reached the Class A final four in 2007.
Host Gull Lake was the lone loss in pool play for the Lady Vikings.
"Our team goal was to place in the top four of this stacked tournament and we did that," Niles coach Linda Martin said. "It was exciting to see. This year's senior class "the Fierce Five" have worked long and hard to make this the best year of Niles volleyball and they have started in a big way. We are really looking forward to improvement as the season continues."
Katie Bourbonnais had a team-high 35 kills, 14 blocks and six aces, while she also had 25 digs for the Lady Vikings.
Patty Anton finished with 22 kills and 10 blocks for Niles, which also got 21 kills, five blocks and 32 digs from Brandywine transfer Melissa Cooper.
Ashley Allison finished with 18 kills, while Devyn Roberts had eight blocks. Allison also had 25 digs.
Demi Schrader and Brittney Buti had five and three aces respectively. Nellie Coquillard finished with a team-high 38 digs.
Niles returns to action on Tuesday, Sept. 2 when they travel to Mishawaka, Ind. for a non-conference match.