COLOMA — Even adversity cannot stop the Dowagiac volleyball team at this point.

After coming off the win at the St. Joseph tournament and a sweep at its quad, the Chieftains wrapped up the regular season on the road at Coloma.

With senior setter Nicole Whan out due to illness, junior Jessie Hulett stepped into her former role as a setter and was helping Dowagiac to its 26th win of the season when she suffered a knee injury.

Second-year coach Tony Hooley shuffled his lineup again, asking players to step up, which they did in a 3-1 win over the Comets. The win gave Dowagiac one more victory than last season. The Chieftains are now 26-16-4 heading into Monday’s Division 2 district opener at Buchanan against Niles.

“It was a match filled with adversity,” Hooley said. “Jessie Hulett had to step back into her familiar role at setter, with Nicole out due to illness, and was leading us to a victory when she went down with a knee injury. We’ll see how serious it is in time.”

That left the Chieftains with only one player available.

“We flipped our lineup so that our right-side hitter became the setter, and a 5-foot-4 defensive specialist became our most important net players to close out the match,” Hooley said. “Alivia Murray went in and played great, as did Riley Stack, a good setter in her own right. It was a gutsy win. We were totally outside our comfort zone with an unrehearsed lineup and rotations, but the girls kept calm and stepped up their play big time.”

Hooley also credited several other players for the victory.

“Anna Dobberstein has been playing so well lately, and along with Nicole Whan, has created one of the toughest right-side defensive duos in the area,” he said. “Allie Conner has steadily improved her pass rating in the back row, and newcomer Caleigh Wimberly, who brings her excellent ball control and poise to the varsity team, was a late-season call-up. Emma Allen had her best outing of the season to go along with our other all-star middle, Jenna Davis.”

Jenna Davis, Megan Davis and Hulett were part of a six-player group that served 54 times without an error, according to Hooley.

“It was one of the best nights the team has had from the service line,” he said.