BUCHANAN — A rollercoaster season for the Niles varsity volleyball team seems to be headed back in the right direction at the most important time of the year.

The Vikings were just three wins over the .500 mark entering Monday night’s Division 2 district opener against Dowagiac at Buchanan. But for Niles, a fourth-place finish at the SMAC last Saturday was just what the team needed.

According to veteran Vikings coach Jenny Nate, her team was on a mission.

“They wanted to play with energy, heart, trust and to take care of their teammates,” she said. “I told them that if they did that, the score would take care of itself.”

That it did.

After taking the first two sets against the Chieftains, who came into the tournament playing their best volleyball of the season, 25-20 and 25-20, the Vikings sent a message to defending district champion Edwardsburg by completely dominating Dowagiac 25-11.

“Edwardsburg is a great team,” Nate said. “It has become a great rivalry. My girls like playing them. Everyone has to step up and do their job no matter who is on the court. They are celebrating the win, but they are focused in and excited to get back in the gym tomorrow to prepare for Wednesday.”

The opening two sets were well-played and exciting to watch as both teams were on top of their game. Dowagiac and Niles battled through several lengthy rallies, but it always seemed that it was the Vikings coming out on top of those rallies to pick up points.

Dowagiac, which had split and defeated Niles at the St. Joseph Invitational nine days earlier, suffered a huge loss when libero Jessie Hulett suffered a knee injury in the regular-season finale against Coloma.

Hulett had to be moved into the setter position as regular setter Nicole Whan was out due to illness. Hulett was unable to play Monday night, which hurt Dowagiac both offensively and defensively as she is one of the Chieftains’ top servers.

“We played well down the stretch despite a lot of adversity,” Dowagiac coach Tony Hooley said. “I knew we were going to have to play well because we knew they [Niles] was going to play well. They do not have too many off nights. I do not think we had a terrible night, but we had some stretches. The first set was our worst of the year.”

Hooley would not use the injury as an excuse for the loss. He also thought after falling behind 16-6 in the opening set, his team played well and got right back into the match.

“We couldn’t overcome the early miscues and they ended up taking the first, important set,” he said. “The second set had some spirited play defensively as both teams battled for each point.”

In the second game tonight, host Buchanan will face Berrien Springs at approximately 7:30 p.m.

The winner advances to face the Niles-Edwardsburg winner at 10 a.m. on Saturday for the distict championship.