By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
BUCHANAN – For volleyball fans it was four games that kept them on the edge of their seat while a winner was decided in each game during Monday night's meeting between the Lady Bucks and Chieftains.
For the coaches it was disappointing play by their respective teams that allowed their opponent to stay in the close games. In the end it was Dowagiac taking 3-of-4 games for the non-league win earning the first match win 27-25.
Buchanan rallied from five points down, 24-19, to take a 27-25 game two victory. Following the setback for Dowagiac the Chieftains rebounded to claim the final two matches 25-23, 25-23.
"We really let that second game slip away," Dowagiac coach Ryan Frontczak said following his team taking the win over the Lady Bucks in the fourth game of the evening. "I was disappointed with that second game but the girls came back and battled. They played really well in the first game and had to come back from some adversity. If you look at it on paper it was a pretty good match up and we were pretty evenly matched."
All four games were a see-saw battles with each team making several unforced errors in each game to hinder their chances to pull away.
In game two Dowagiac led 24-19 but couldn't put the Lady Bucks away as they scored seven straight points to tie the match at 24. Jayme O'Bryant finished the game with three kills to give the Lady Bucks the come-from-behind victory and tie the match at one game apiece.
"I was really proud the way the girls kept fighting and they didn't give up," Buchanan coach Lisa Holok said following the defeat. "But again we are struggling with those unforced errors. We had 14 missed serves and 32 hitting errors and you really can't win a game when you do that. That is something that we have to work on. We have to control our side of the net."
Dowagiac held five point leads twice in the second game and each time Buchanan found away to get back into the game be it by playing some good defense or gaining a point on an unforced error by the Chieftains.
"We let them right back in it. To be the team I want them to be we can't do that and I'm disappointed in that. It's a win but I'm going to call it an ugly win. We didn't play our best volleyball today."
Holok credits the win in game two to her team doing what they need to do all the time. "We eliminated our errors first of all, we stopped hitting in the net and stopped hitting it out of bounds. They kept focused on each point and they had a great comeback."
In game three each team continued to struggle to put the opponent away missing on their serves or making an unforced error. Dowagiac, which improves to 13-5, held on in game three for the 25-23 win. Game four was the same story with the Chieftains once again holding off a determined Buchanan team for a 25-23 victory.
"They didn't ever truly gave up in any of the games so that is a positive to see that they can keep that fight under pressure," Holok said.
Buchanan stats:
Courtny Miller 25 digs 13 kills
Jayme O'Bryant 27 digs 14 kills 6 aces
Rachel Downs 35 digs
Emily Ross 24 digs 51 assists 9 kills
Anna Callahan 8 digs 15 kills 2 blocks
Rachel Briggs 2 kills 2 blocks
Alexis Lenox 4 kills
Dowagiac stats:
Katy Stubby 4 kills
Stephanie Barnas 4 kills, 4 aces
Sarah Shelton 8 kills, 1 block
Emily Primley 11 kills, 4 blocks
Allison Frontczak 7 kills, 4 blocks, 4 aces