ST. JOSEPH — Talk about a rebound.

After a disappointing sweep by South Haven in its Wolverine Conference finale on Thursday, the Dowagiac volleyball team fought back and won the St. Joseph Invitational on Saturday.

The Chieftains split matches with host St. Joseph and Niles in pool play, but defeating Kalamazoo Hackett and Paw Paw to advance to the semifinals.

In the semis, Dowagiac (22-16-4) defeated the Vikings 25-18, 22-25 and 15-12 before knocking off the host Bears in the title match 25-23 and 25-21.

“The girls overcame sickness and minor injuries to claim a title that has some significance for us,” said Dowagiac coach Tony Hooley. “There were some big schools with solid volleyball programs in our area at this tournament, and we used our matches with them as a measuring stick to where we are going as a program. I didn’t think we would end the day without a loss, though. It was nice to finish first after being runner-up at two other tournaments earlier this year.”

Hooley was disappointed with the 3-0 sweep by South Haven in the Chieftains’ final league match on Thursday, but said that he made some changes to the lineup, which helped on Saturday.

“We have been committing far too many errors lately, but we did a much better job today reducing those errors in our attack and from the service line,” he said. “I tweaked our line-up and rotations a little, and I believe that may have helped some. Mostly, the ladies just stepped up and played big when we needed it.”

The Chieftains are back on the court today as they host Buchanan, Brandywine and Marcellus for a quad. Play is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.