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STURGIS — When Edwardsburg dropped a five-set Wolverine Conference match to Three Rivers in mid-September, the Eddies put their heads down and focused on winning their remaining league matches and hoped to get at least a share of the championship.

Edwardsburg ran the table, including their 3-1 win over host Sturgis Thursday night, while Otsego defeated the Wildcats to force a three-way tie for the title. All three teams finish at 6-1.

“It’s exciting earning this shared title, and having this two years in a row is pretty awesome,” said Edwardsburg Coach Sarah Strefling. “I was hoping the girls would focus on taking care of the tasks in front of them [beating Sturgis away, and on their senior night], that were in their control, and letting everything play out how it should be. Obviously Three Rivers and Otsego are great teams and we all went five sets with each other, so that is saying a lot about our conference this season.”

The Eddies shared the 2022 Wolverine Conference championship with rival Niles.

On Thursday night, Edwardsburg defeated Sturgis 25-21, 25-22, 14-25 and 25-22.

Drew Glaser had a huge night for the Eddies with 24 kills, nine digs and a block, Sarah Pippin added 18 kills, 10 digs, two aces and two assists, while Lexi Schimpa finished the night with 43 assists, six digs, five kills and an ace.

Danni Purlee had a team-high 20 digs. Mya Eberlein and Amaya Shier combined for six kills and five blocks.

With conference play behind them, the Eddies are now focused on wrapping up the regular season against Brandywine Thursday night and honoring its seniors, and beginning preparation for the postseason.

Strefling said winning a conference championship will booster her team’s confidence heading into the tournament.

“It’s always a great recognition to win a title in conference, but the postseason prep work starts now,” she said. “I feel like our focus abruptly has to turn to first week of November. What are we going to do to prepare ourselves for the next phase of competition and climb a mountain to earn a title of district champs.  Having 5 seniors, and developing those players new to this team has been our goal since the start. I do see us continue to get better in practices, they work hard, but clicking all on the same night still hasn’t happened [in my opinion]. We are winning, but not as clean as I would like. I hope it clicks when it really matters, and we show up.”