DOWAGIAC —The Niles Vikings volleyball team made the bus trip to Dowagiac Monday night for a non-conference varsity contest and came away victorious in straight sets, 25-7, 25-13 and 25-13.

The Vikings wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Taylor Brandstatter started the match with an ace as she served up the first five points of the night.

With the score 11-4, freshman Kylee Myer served the next seven points for the Vikings as they built up an 18-4 advantage. The two teams would exchange the next seven points before Lashonda Greene would serve the final three points of the first set, including an ace to end the game the same way they started it.

The second set was closer on the scoreboard as the teams were tied at 3-3, before Cortney Shirrell led the Vikings attack to the next six points building the 9-3 advantage.

After splitting the next eight points bringing the score to 13-7, Niles scored 12 of the next 18 taking the set 25-13.

The last game of the night was very similar to the second game, but the outcome was never in doubt as the Vikings rolled to the 25-13 win.

“Niles has a lot of girls that play in Krush and travel leagues and we don’t,” Dowagiac coach Sara Lawrence said. “We only have girls that play during the school year and it showed on the court tonight. For our sakes we just need to keep moving and keep covering.”

For the Vikings it was an opportunity to work on certain things.

“It was a good opportunity to try some different lineups and just really try to secure some positions,” Niles assistant coach Ken Davis said. “We have about four positions that are really anchored, but we are still working on a few positions and this was a good opportunity to bring those out.”

Leading the way for the Vikings was Greene with four kills, four aces and six blocks. Miranda Baker added three digs and four blocks, while Brandstatter added seven aces and two digs. Myers contributed two aces and three blocks.

For the Chieftains Casey Weldy had two aces and Carly Polomcak and Whitney Donaldson each had one assist.

Niles also won both the freshmen and JV matches as well with the freshmen winning 25-11 and 25-13, while the JV won 25-19 and 25-14.

Leading the Dowagiac JV team was Courtney Hunsberger with eight digs. Katie Ward and Nicole Irwin each had three serves, with Brianna McCuddy added three serves, three spikes and a tip.

Niles got seven kills and five aces from Kierra Fillwock in the JV match, while Olivia Jordan had three kills, two aces and a block. The Vikings also got 12 assists from Megan McKeel and three kills from Courtney Nixon.

In the freshmen match, Meagan McCreary led the way with 10 assists and Hannah Walker had eight kills for the Vikings. Asiah Brookins finished with four kills and five aces. Morgan Richer had five aces and nine digs.

Amanda Badner led Dowagiac in aces and Marry Magin was the leader in kills.