By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
EDWARDSBURG - A steady dose of Kelli and Kendra Zache led the visiting Brandywine Bobcats to a three game victory over Edwardsburg Wednesday night in Lakeland Conference play.
The Lady Bobcats (5-9-2 overall, 2-2 Lakeland Conference) defeated the Lady Eddies, 25-18, 25-18 and 26-26.
Brandywine jumped out to a 4-0 lead behind the serving of Kelli Zache in the opening game.
The Lady Bobcats held a 10-6 lead when the Lady Eddies caught fire and cut the Brandywine advantage down to 10-9 on a pair of service points from Lindsay Mollenberndt.
Brooke Allen made it 13-9 with a pair of points, including an ace before Nikki Martyniuk delivered two more points to make it a 17-11 Brandywine lead.
Trailing 20-13 following a point by Kendra Zache, Edwardsburg roared back and eventually cut the lead to 20-16.
However, three straight points from Katie Smallwood made it a 24-16 contest and a side out later, the Lady Bobcats had the victory.
The team score would give Brandywine a 2-0 lead, but, the game wasn't nearly as close.
Edwardsburg did grab a 2-0 lead on a pair of service winners by Nikki Thompson, however, Kelli Zache served up three consecutive points for the Lady Bobcats to give them a 4-1 lead.
Martyniuk made it 8-3 with a trio of points, but, the Lady Eddies were not quite through yet.
A pair of points from Chrissy Breisch made it 8-6. The Eddies' Jennie Haines made it 11-9 with two points, while Susana Martino kept it at a three-point deficit, 16-13, with a pair of winners.
From there it was all Brandywine.
Kelli Zache reeled off three consecutive service winners to extend the Brandywine lead to 21-14. Martyniuk gave the Lady Bobcats a 23-15 advantage and Missy Cooper finished off the Lady Eddies with a single point.
Brandywine made an outstanding comeback in the third game, trailing 21-14 at one point after Thompson delivered a service winner.
Thompson gave Edwardsburg a 3-0 lead to start the game, while Breisch had three consecutive points to make it an 11-5 contest.
Five straight points from Stephanie Koontz extended the Edwardsburg lead to 17-8.
Four straight service winners from Martyniuk cut the Edwardsburg lead down to 17-13.
With the game hanging in the balance, Kendra Zache and Kelli Zache teamed up to bring the Lady Bobcats back.
Kendra Zache served up five consecutive points to tie things up at 23.
Kelli Zache hammered home a spike to make it 24-24.
A block by Martyniuk and Allen gave the Lady Bobcats a 25-24 advantage, while a kill by Kelli Zache ended the match.
Brandywine was led by Kendra Zache with 12 kills on 21 attacks and by Kelli Zache with 10 kills on 16 attacks.
Martyniuk and Allen both had a pair of solo blocks for the Lady Bobcats, who also got three digs from Emily Low and two digs from Kendra Zache.
Kendra Zache and Cooper both finished with two aces.
Cooper had 15 assists and Low seven.
Edwardsburg was led statistically by Mollenberndt with seven kills, Koontz with five kills and Evie Tafuai with four.
Nikki Focht had 14 digs, while Breisch and Mollenberndt had 10 and eight digs respectively.
Thompson finished with 19 assists for the Lady Eddies.