DOWAGIAC — After going 5-0 and winning the Tracy Baker Memorial in Cassopolis last Saturday, the Dowagiac volleyball team jumped into Wolverine Conference play in a big way Tuesday night.

The Chieftains played host to Wolverine Conference runner-up and Class B regional finalist Vicksburg at the Dowagiac Middle School.

The Bulldogs proved why they were a district champion in 2017 with 25-13, 25-16 and 25-11 victory over the Chieftains.

First-year coach Tony Hooley said that Vicksburg outplayed his team in every facet of the game.

“We will find a way to build on this and get better,” he said. “We need to pick up the intensity in practices and get faster and mentally stronger so when we play the elite teams on our schedule, we can be more consistent and not tail off toward the end of our sets.”

Dowagiac played well during the first half of the opening two sets, before the Bulldogs took control, forced the Chieftains into both mental and physical mistakes, and then went on to complete the victories.

In the third and final set, Vicksburg jumped out to a big lead and never looked back.

“Obviously our youth hurt us,” Hooley said. “They are well coached and they got great athletes over there. I haven’t looked at their roster, but they have more seasoned athletes than we do. We have to get better fundamentally. We have to get over the mindset of being a lower tier team. We need to believe in ourselves and play like that.”

Senior Amiyah Smith played in her first match of the season and finished with a team-high six kills. Freshman Megan Davis added four kills and eight digs.

Senior Kelsey Crocker had six digs, while sophomore Jessie Hulett had 12 setting assists.

Junior Jenna Davis and Smith both finished with three blocks.

Dowagiac returns to the court Wednesday when it travels to Three Rivers for another Wolverine Conference match.

The Chieftains’ home match against Cassopolis has been canceled.