By By DON EDEN / Niles Daily Star
THREE OAKS – River Valley was defeated by Brandywine in five sets in both the regular season and conference tournament, but in the Class C Districts at River Valley on Wednesday, the Mustang spikers kicked out the Bobcats in a trio of games.
Brandywine got beat by scores of 25-22, 25-19 and 26-24 as two senior stars sat out with an injury and being ill.
"It was rough playing without Alexa Perry (sick) and Jenna Harris (injury) and unfortunately there isn't much you can do about illness and injuries," noted Bobcat coach Nikki Cooper. "We had a few girls play positions new to them, but they did well for a last minute change."
The first set was deadlocked with 11 points apiece until senior Karli Wendorf gave Brandywine their biggest lead of 15-11 with a quartet of points as the server.
Sophomore Emma Kautzky matched Wendorf's streak and junior Chelsea Baker had a run of six straight points to lead the hosts to the 25-22 victory.
Mustang junior Krista Wilkey helped lead River Valley in the middle encounter with five straight serving points as Brandywine fell behind 12-4 before rallying, as they won the longest volley of the evening, to put the scoreboard at 18-11 before falling by a 25-19 score.
"Our young servers are successful 90 percent or better and are very consistent and aggressive," stated River Valley coach Tia Roberts. "It always helps playing on the home court with lots of people cheering and I was impressed with how we played together as a team."
Senior Emily Low and junior Kelsie Holden of Brandywine started the third set with its largest lead of the match, as they had four and six points respectively, as the Bobcats took a 10-4 advantage.
But the duo of Kautzky and Wilkey led the Mustangs back to eventually lead 18-17.
Junior varsity sophomore Kelsey Prestly was impressive throughout, replacing the seniors and had seven kills in the match as she rallied the Bobcats from a 24-21 deficit with three serving points to tie the score, but the match ended as River Valley scored the following two points.
"River Valley was ready to go and we didn't have much intensity and it showed," concluded Cooper. "This is not the best way to end the season, but I am proud of the girls for what they showed in the last few weeks."
Low had a pair of aces to go with a dozen assists and 10 digs in her final volleyball match, with Wendorf achieving six digs. Sophomore Samantha Low led Brandywine with 10 digs.
Baker had a trio of aces and Kautzky led the victors with 18 assists. Junior Meagan Carlson and senior Maddie Ponegalek led River Valley with 13 and nine deadly spikes respectively with senior Liz Milliken accomplishing five blocks to go with a couple assists.
"Brandywine is not a bad team, who are scrappy and play well together as we got better and better every game we played this season," said Roberts. "We are thrilled to play either team to avenge earlier close defeats to Bridgman and Watervliet during the season."
River Valley will play Watervliet for the championship Friday as they host the game beginning at 6:30 in the evening.