By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
For the first time in her coaching career, Cassopolis' Erica Boulanger owns a victory over her alma mater.
The Lady Rangers needed five sets Tuesday night, but they knocked off host Brandywine in the opening round of the Lakeland Conference Tournament.
Cassopolis defeated the Lady Bobcats 9-25, 25-19, 25-21, 15-25 and 15-13 to advance to Thursday's final round against Bridgman.
"The last couple of practices we have been working on team unity and mental toughness and they definitely overcame that this evening," Boulanger said. "Second and third set we were down five and six points and they fought back."
Boulanger added that the team had been working on adjustments to its defense for the teams it would be playing that that paid off as well.
"Defensively we were led by Jessica Biek and Reva Ivens with a lot of support from the bench," she said. "Shirley Thomas and Stephanie Vlasicak came in and played great defense."
Biek finished with a team-high 36 passes, while Ivens finished with 32. Vlasicak and Thomas contributed 15 and 13 good passes to the winning effort respectively.
The Lady Rangers also got 19 passes from Kasey Fosdick.
"Offensively, Kasey Fosdick had a great game at the net, but we still need to connect more effectively on blocking … it killed us tonight," Boulanger said. "Jessica Biek gave us a total of eight aces and really turned around the second game for us."
Biek also led the team in kills with six, while Fosdick finished with five and Olivia Stewart four.
Kirsten Fitzsimons and Ivens both ended the match with three kills.
Stewart led the team with 14 assists and Biek five assists.
Edwardsburg…0
Coloma…3
The Lady Eddies put up a fight in the final set, but fell to the host Coloma Comets 3-0 in the Lakeland Conference Tournament on Tuesday.
The Lady Comets, who are the No. 1 seed in the tournament, defeated the Lady Eddies 25-9, 25-15 and 30-28 to advance to Thursday's league championship match against Berrien Springs, a 3-0 winner over Buchanan on Tuesday night.
Edwardsburg will travel to Buchanan on Thursday for the final round of the tournament.
Elise Mackling had 11 kills, eight digs and two blocks for the Lady Eddies, who also got 10 kills, 20 digs and one ace from Christina Hans.
Amelia Breslin finished with 19 assists, 11 digs and two aces.
Buchanan…0
Berrien Springs…3
The Lady Bucks fell to host Berrien Springs 25-17, 25-23 and 29-27 in a very competitive match on Tuesday night.
The Lady Shamrocks will now travel to Coloma on Thursday to play for the league championship.
"Tonight was a huge disappointment," Buchanan coach Lisa Holok said. "We came off an amazing weekend winning the St. Joe tournament and to come into the conference semifinals and play the way we played tonight is just really frustrating.
"We completely and utterly beat ourselves tonight. Now we need to regroup and get back to Buchanan volleyball before the state tournament begins next week. I am confident this team will persevere," she added.
Courtney Miller had five kills and nine digs, while Rachel Briggs finished with seven kills and four blocks.
The Lady Bucks also got five kills and five digs from Audrey Oake and 10 kills from Anna Callahan.
Alexis Lenox had 25 assists and eight digs for Buchanan, which also got 10 digs and two aces from Jayme O'Bryant and 14 digs from Rachel Downs.