By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
BERRIEN SPRINGS – Saturday's Class B District volleyball tournament championship game will match up St. Joseph and Edwardsburg after each team came away victorious Thursday night at Berrien Springs High School.
In the evening's opener, it took four games for the Bears to advance as they downed Buchanan 25-23, 25-23, 23-25, 25-10.
In the second semifinal, Edwardsburg held off Lakeshore to advance after a five-game match, picking up the 3-2 victory 16-25, 25-19, 25-13, 20-25, 15-11.
St. Joseph…3
Buchanan…1
Buchanan hung right in there with the Bears for the first three matches but couldn't come up with the big play to get past St. Joe down the stretch.
By the fourth game, passing errors and unable to execute their game plan proved costly in ending the season for the Lady Bucks.
"I'm extremely proud of the way we played and I thought they fought hard for each point," Buchanan coach Lisa Holok said. "They did everything that we had practiced for yesterday to prepare for St. Joe. I think we just ran out of steam in that fourth game. Anna (Callahan) hurt her knee and we had to switch it up a little bit and way to many unforced errors also that last game but the first three games they played with a lot of heart and I'm really proud of them."
Buchanan's loss closes out the career of their lone senior. Emily Ross, who has been a four-year starter for the Lady Bucks broke the Buchanan assist record finishing the night with 31 assist, 4 aces, 4 blocks, 10 digs and 8 kills. Buchanan will be returning nine players, six of those are starters. The Lady Bucks finish their season with a 32-14-6 record.
Edwardsburg…4
Lakeshore…1
Edwardsburg opened up by playing flat and it looked as though it would be an easy night for Lakeshore as the Lancers took the 25-16 opening win. "Nothing was going the way that I wanted it to go," Eddies coach Sarah Cichowicz said following the thrilling win. "We weren't showing up the way that I expected and I didn't expect our team to show up like that."
Things quickly changed in game two with the Eddies rushing out to a 8-2 lead. The Lancers didn't lay down and quit and battled back to tie the game at 10 and the lead went back and forth from that point. With the game tied at 19 senior standout Stephanie Koontz served up the final seven points for the Eddies to tie the match at a game apiece.
The Eddies carried that momentum into game three opening up a 12-6 early and going on to the 25-13 win and a 2-1 lead in the match. With the score tied at 20 in the fourth game the Lancers bounced back with the 25-20 to even the match up and force a fifth and final game.
After a 5-5 tie the Eddies rolled off five consecutive points with the help of blocks by Erin Burks and Evie Tafunai and kills by Koontz and Tafunai. The Lancers cut the lead to two 13-11 before Edwardsburg sealed their ticket to the finals with the final two points of the game.
"Our passes weren't on all night I don't think and we still persevered through that. We did what worked and won it," Cichowicz said. "We were good enough to modifying stuff to make it work which says a lot about this group."
Edwardsburg faced Lakeshore at the St. Joe tournament last week and beat the Lancers in the two games where Lakeshore only scored seven and 10 points against the Eddies. "I told the girls that that's not the team that's going to show up today," Cichowicz said.
Edwardsburg will take a 44-7-2 record into Saturday's championship game against the Bears.
Buchanan statistics
Courtney Miller 9 kills 18 digs
Anna Callahan 9 kills 11 digs 2 aces 5 blocks
Emily Ross 8 kills 31 assists 10 digs 4 aces 4 blocks
Rachel Briggs 4 digs 4 blocks
Taylor Henry 4 kills 7 blocks
Alexis Lenox 6 digs
Rachel Downs 14 digs
Jayme O'Bryant 3 kills 5 digs
Brooke Shultz 3 digs
Edwardsburg statistics
Elise Mackling 8 kills, 5 blocks, 13 digs, 1 ace
C.C. Roberts 29 assists, 10 digs, 2 kills
Stephanie Koontz 17 kills, 5 blocks, 11 digs, 1 ace
Erin Burks 8 blocks
Evie Tafunai 9 kills, 14 digs, 1 block, 4 aces
Laney Smous 11 digs, 2 aces