By SCOTT NOVAK

Dowagiac Daily News

NILES — Dowagiac coach Bill Anderson has been looking forward to playing against his old team for quite a while.

But after Niles’ 3-0 win over the Chieftains, he probably wished it was a little longer.

The Vikings, who did not play particularly well over the weekend at the Lakeshore Invitational, took their frustrations out on Dowagiac, winning 25-17, 25-20 and 25-7.

It didn’t seem to matter which lineup Niles coach Linda Martin put on the court.

They all seemed to thrive Monday night.

Dowagiac was farely competitive in the first two sets, but completely became unravelled in the third.

In the opener, the Chieftains led 3-1 early following kills by Hope Daniel and Kelsie Primley.

Niles cut the lead to 4-3 and then the two teams traded points with the score being knotted at 10-10 when Charissa Spear stepped to the service line.

Three points later Niles had a 13-10 lead only to have the Chieftains rally to tie it up again at 13 all.

Following an error by Dowagiac, Abby McKeel took over and dominated the Chieftains with her serving.

Seven straight winners turned a tie match into a 21-13 advantage the Vikings would never relinquish.

“The thing about Abby is she is always steady,” Linda Martin said. “In serving games one and two, she totally came through.”

Dowagiac got off to an even better start in the second set, but once again couldn’t maintain the momentum.

Primley got Dowagiac off to a great start with seven straight points, including an ace.

The Chieftains’ lead slowly dwindled away thanks to serving of Taylor Brandstatter and Sarah Ferguson, and the hitting of Michelle Briand and Rachel Zeider.

The match was tied three times between 13 and 16 points, but when Briand came through with three straight service winners and Miranda Baker added a monster kill, the Vikings found themselves out in front for good at 18-15.

Three more winners from McKeel, including an ace pushed Niles to the brink of victory and Cortney Shirrell finished off the Chieftains.

Spear delivered a quick end to Dowagiac in the third set as she served nine consecutive points to open play and Baker followed with three more to extend the lead to 13-1.

Shirrell added four more winners and Brandstatter completed the rout with three service points.

“They don’t know how to win,” Anderson said. “I can’t say they don’t know the game anymore because they do. They just don’t know how to win.”

Dowagiac was swept by Niles as it also lost the freshmen and junior varsity matches.