Inland Lakes volleyball finishes strong, tops M-68 rival Onaway
· Yahoo Sports
ONAWAY — Sometimes, the hardest set to win is the last one.
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That’s been the case at times this season for the Inland Lakes Bulldogs, who have had chances to win matches only to lose leads and fall short. But in a solid stretch of play recently, the Bulldogs are beginning to find momentum.
And they’re finishing those matches they expect to win.
The Bulldogs continued their resurgence by earning a hard-fought 3-1 victory over M-68 rival Onaway (25-18, 25-16, 23-25, 25-27) in Onaway on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Here’s some takeaways from the rivalry showdown.
Finishing strong — and having fun
Earlier this season, the Bulldogs (8-12-3, 4-3 Ski Valley Conference) had trouble holding onto leads.
They once again placed themselves in that sort of scenario, building a two-set lead with dominant play. Inland Lakes, which led late in the third, failed to close out the set and found itself in another awkward position.
But to show just how far they’ve progressed, the Bulldogs stood tall in a back-and-forth fourth, took control and sealed another confidence-boosting victory, much to the excitement of coach Shaylee Michael.
“We had fun tonight. When we have fun, we’re a great team,” Michael said. “I’m really excited that the girls are starting to mesh a lot better and having more fun on the court, and I think if we do that, we can have a lot of great success.”
The Bulldogs were spearheaded by junior hitter Ava Belford, whose thunderous kills came at crucial times. Sophomore Marlee Jarema and freshman Emmalyn Connelly were also solid at the net, while Adi Fenstermaker, Mariah King, Miley O'Boyle and plenty of others played their respective roles well throughout the night.
“Earlier in the season, we were really struggling with finishing,” Belford said. “We’d be neck and neck with everyone every single set, but I think the reason we lost (the third set tonight) was because our energy dropped, and energy is key for volleyball because it’s kind of a mental sport, so we just pulled it together, talked about what wasn’t working, and went from there.”
Inland Lakes hosts the Bulldog Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 10.
Stats for Inland Lakes will be provided when they become available.
Cardinals can’t find consistency
While the Bulldogs continue to build confidence, the Cardinals (9-13-12, 2-4) have faltered, and even though they sliced their deficit in half with a resilient win in the third set, their inconsistency haunted them again in a key clash.
“We’re not improving the way we need to improve,” Onaway coach Steve Watson said. “We hit zero percent tonight — we’ve been doing that all season. In the second set, in the first 12 points that (Inland Lakes) had, seven of them were our attack errors and service errors. When you get more than 50 percent of your points for free, it makes life easier for the other team.”
Leading Onaway’s attack was Jerzie Garms, who recorded 10 kills, while Brooklyn Boughner had six kills, and Layla Box and Aleigha Garms each added four kills. Boughner also had 15 assists.
“I’ll say this. We fought back and won the third set. That’s our positive,” Watson said. “We could've rolled over, but we were pushed against the wall in the third set, and we decided to fight back a little bit, which is good. A lot of teams won’t do that.”
Onaway returns to action with a home match against Gaylord St. Mary on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at [email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @sportsCDT
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Inland Lakes volleyball finishes strong, tops M-68 rival Onaway