CASSOPOLIS — a new era of Cassopolis volleyball got under way at the Tracy Baker Memorial Tournament on Saturday.

Coach Demi Schrader did not know what to expect when her team opened up play at their tournament. After all, the Rangers graduated a large senior class that helped rebuild the Cassopolis program.

What she learned was that her team has plenty of things to work on, but played better than expected in reaching the championship match before falling to Michigan Lutheran 2-1.

Cassopolis was undefeated on the day, beating Michigan Lutheran 2-0, Southwest 10 Conference foe Marcellus 2-0, River Valley 2-0 and Eau Claire 2-0 in the round-robin portion of the tournament.

In the semifinals, Cassopolis defeated River Valley 25-12, 23-25 and 15-10 to advance to face the Titans once again.

Schrader’s young team hit the wall in the finals after winning the first set 25-15. Michigan Lutheran took advantage of a Ranger team that was out of steam and quit communicating to win the second set 25-12 and the deciding set 15-7.

“We have people who are not used to playing all away around the rotation who got a glimpse of that today,” Schrader said. “We completely ran out of gas that final game. We stopped talking, calling balls and hustling.”

Despite the outcome, Schrader was pleased with what she learned about her team.

“I was very proud of them,” she said. “I did not know what to expect today with a new team.”

Ranger cross country

BRIDGMAN — Cross country season kicked off for area teams on Wednesday at the annual Bridgman Invitational.

The host Bees won the girls team title, while Watervliet took the boys trophy home.

Cassopolis finished sixth in the boys standings, while Buchanan was seventh. Brandywine did not have enough runners to post a team score.

Joe Furlan of Bloomingdale was the individual champion with a time of 17:25. Buchanan’s Walker Barz was third with a time of 17:59, while Cassopolis’ Cole Millirans was eight with a time of 18:27.

The Rangers finished fourth in the girls race behind Bridgman, Bloomingdale and Hartford. Brandywine placed eighth, while Buchanan did not have enough runners for a team score.

Kallie Harrison of Bloomingdale was the winner in the girls race with her time of 21:07.

Cassopolis’ Lauren Anderson finished fourth overall with a time of 22:51. Brandywine’s Allison Lauri finished 10th with a 24:06.

“We show some improvement over last year but need to work harder to become better,” said Brandywine coach Terry Borr. “It was nice to have a full girls lineup. We hope to field a full lineup for the boys soon. Using two-sport athletes can be difficult when both teams have events on the same day.”