By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
It was an up and done night for the Dowagiac varsity volleyball team, which was seeing action for the first time since Dec. 28.
In the end, visiting Vicksburg came away with a 5-25, 25-17, 9-25 and 24-26 Wolverine Conference victory on Thursday night.
"We were a jekyll and hyde team tonight," Dowagiac coach Carl Greulich said.
Dowagiac was no match for the Lady Bulldogs in the first and third games. But in the second and fourth games, the Chieftains gave Vicksburg everything it wanted.
"All week long we have worked on winning, winning at everything," Greulich said. "We worked on getting my middles to run on free balls. We worked on Stephanie (Barnas) running a 5-1 offense. We give up a little on blocking, so our defense is going to have to stand there and take those (spikes)."
The Chieftains tried to stand in there and take the best Vicksburg had to offer. Dowagiac was able to do that in two of those games. In the other two games, the Lady Bulldogs dominated the net play. As a result, those two games were lopsided.
Dowagiac was able to work its offense in the second and fourth games. The Chieftains passed the ball well and its hitters took advantage of good sets. Dowagiac also played well defensively, led by Brittany Gnatz with 14 digs. Tasia Diaz and Brittany Bruens both finished with seven digs.
"Our passing was better tonight, you could see that," Greulich said.
Dowagiac spread the ball around on offense. Emily Primley led the team with nine kills, while Sarah Shelton and Allison Frontczak finished with eight and six kills respectively. Frontczak led the team in blocks with four. Kayla Saviano finished with two blocks.
Primley and Shelton were also among the top servers with five aces each.
Barnas ended the evening with 35 assists.
The Chieftains return to action on Saturday as they take part in the Portage Northern Invitational.
Freshmen, JV volleyball
Visiting Vicksburg made short work of Dowagiac Thursday night in Wolverine Conference volleyball.
The Lady Bulldogs defeated the Chieftain freshmen squad, 20-25 and 10-25. Dowagiac's junior varsity was defeated by Vicksburg, 9-25 and 15-25.
Danielle Taylor led Dowagiac with three aces and one kill.
The Chieftains also got two aces from Joanna Pickar and two blocks from Marquira Smith.
Yasmine Chambliss led Dowagiac with four blocks.