By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
The Dowagiac varsity volleyball team has three weeks to find a way to transition from defense to offense if it wants to make a run at the Class B district championship.
The Chieftains will find out just who they will play later today as the draw is head in Edwardsburg, which is hosting the district tournament.
On Tuesday night, Dowagiac played another great defensive game, but could not find enough offense to knock off visiting Paw Paw.
The Lady Redskins came away with a 3-1 Wolverine Conference win over the Chieftains.
"Man alive we were in every single one of those games," remarked Ryan Frontczak, Dowagiac's varsity volleyball coach following the game. "Our defense is tough. I think our defense is one of the best in the area, but we have got to find a solution for our offense. We were off a little bit there for a while and it cost us."
Dowagiac had little trouble winning the first set against Paw Paw as everything was clicking.
The Chieftains took a 25-17 win in the opening set and were ahead by six points late in the second set.
The Lady Redskins pulled that one out 26-24 and then edged the Chieftains 25-22 in the pivotal third set.
Paw Paw went on to win the match with a 25-21 victory in the third set.
"The scores were close. That's a good team right there. They have beaten St. Joe, they have beaten Lakeshore, they have beaten all the teams we are going to see in our district. So now it's to a point where we have got to get to where we can beat them," Frontczak said.
"I thought we came out ready to play. That first game was one of the best games we have played since I have been coach. They came out on fire. We came out 25-17 and there wasn't a question about who was going to win that game," he continued.
Frontczak said that the second set really was the difference. After being up six points late, the offense sort of fizzled and from there it was just a battle between the two teams.
"We did so many good things, but then it comes down to one little thing, a little bit of offense. We've got three weeks now, so we have to solve this problem in a hurry," Frontczak said.
Emily Primley, who along with her fellow seniors were honored prior to the match, had a big night with 19 kills four digs, three aces and a block.
Senior Tasia Diaz had four kills, six digs and two aces, while senior Jenna Mitchell finished with six kills, one dig and a block.
Seniors Stephanie Grabemeyer and Brittany Gnatz had 10 and seven digs respectively. Senior Kayleigh Hutchings had two kills and three blocks.
The Chieftains are back in action on Wednesday, Oct. 29 when they travel to South Haven for another league tripleheader.
The varsity game is scheduled to begin at approximately 6 p.m.
JV volleyball
Dowagiac was defeated in three games by the Lady Redskins Tuesday night, 25-20 23-25 and 9-15.
Leading servers were Devon Ownby and Casey Collins, while the leading hitters were Kaisha Martin, Kiele Belew and Haley Spencer.
Top passers were Ownby and Miranda East.
Freshmen volleyball
The Chieftains defeated the Lady Redskins Tuesday night 25-13 and 26-24.
Dowagiac was down 23-20 in the second game before rallying for the victory.
The top blocker for the Chieftains was Allison Hassle, while Kelsie Primley was the leading hitter and Meghan Hojara the leading server.
"I am just so proud of every single one of my girls," Dowagiac coach Sara Lawrence said.