By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
DOWAGIAC - It was a story of two teams Monday night when Dowagiac and Edwardsburg met for a non-conference volleyball match.
The visiting Lady Eddies were at the top of their game, while Dowagiac did not play very well.
The result was a 26-24, 25-16 and 25-18 victory for the Lady Eddies.
Edwardsburg raced out to a 6-0 lead in the first game, a 5-0 lead in the second game and then had to battle tooth-and-nail with the Chieftains to complete the sweep.
Trailing 14-7 in the opening game, Dowagiac senior Ann O'Keefe served up four consecutive points to cut the Lady Eddies' lead to 14-11.
Dowagiac continued to cut into the Edwardsburg lead as senior Kim Luthringer had a trio of service points to make it an 18-16 contest.
Dowagiac opened up a 20-18 advantage before the Lady Eddies rallied and a big block by Edwardsburg's Malorie Woods tied the score at 20.
The Lady Eddies went on to lead 24-20 before the Chieftains stormed back to tie it at 24 on a kill by Luthringer.
Edwardsburg took the next two points to get the first game victory.
It was all Edwardsburg after that.
The Lady Eddies led 5-0 to open up the second game and 17-5 before putting Dowagiac away.
Nikki Thompson started the game with five consecutive points and Jennie Haines served up seven straight winners to give the Lady Eddies the 12-point advantage.
Dowagiac struggled offensively throughout the game and scored just five points off of its offense or serving.
The Chieftains played better in the third game, but after tying the match at 4-4, Edwardsburg dominated and slowly pulled away for the win.
Dowagiac coach Carl Greulich was extremely disappointed in his team's performance.
Stephanie Koontz, Kelsey Moreno, Woods and Chrissy Breisch all had four kills for the Lady Eddies.
Breisch led the team with 17 digs, while Nikki Focht and Susanna Martino each had 12 digs.
Thompson finished with 14 assists.
Jill Billingham and Brittany Bruens both had six kills for the Chieftains. Kim Luthringer finished with five kills.
Luthringer led the team in digs with four. Lindsay Tyler and Jolynn Hawkins both had three digs.
Hawkins also had 10 assists and Jill Wiesemes nine assists.
Dowagiac travels to Niles for a Big 16 West Division match on Wednesday. Play is scheduled to begin with the freshmen and junior varsity at 6 p.m.