No. 4 Kalamazoo Christian sweeps Buchanan

Published 11:14 pm Tuesday, November 7, 2023

By Scott Novak

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BRONSON — When you are facing the No. 4-ranked team in Division 3 in the Regional Volleyball Tournament semifinals, a team cannot afford to have an off night.

But that is precisely what happened to Buchanan, which was defeated by Kalamazoo Christian 25-18, 25-16 and 25-19 at Bronson High School Tuesday night.

The Comets advanced to face the host Vikings for the regional championship Thursday night.

The Bucks end the season with a 32-8 overall record.

“I thought tonight we played hard, but we had a lot of hitting and serving errors that gave too points away, and then it was too hard to catch up,” said Buchanan Coach Shelly Bossert.

Buchanan got off to a quick start and looked like it was going to take control of the opening set. But trailing 4-1, Kalamazoo Christian found its rhythm and forced a 4-4 tie. The Bucks would open up a pair of three-point leads — 7-4 and 9-6 — only to have the Comets come storming back.

Once Kalamazoo Christian tied the match at 9-9, the opening set remained close until the Comets took an 18-15 lead. Buchanan never recovered.

From there, Kalamazoo Christian dominated the match and never allowed Buchanan a chance to win a set and get back into it. The service and hitting errors started piling up, and before they knew it, the Bucks trailed the Comets 17-7.

Buchanan would make one last run at Kalamazoo Christian. The Bucks cut the lead to 19-14 by playing its best volleyball of the night, but when the Comets came away with a 25-21 win, the mountain Buchanan had to climb to get back into the match became even more significant.

The Bucks never gave up, though.

In the third set, after the Comets got off to another fast start, Buchanan worked its way back to tie what would turn out to be the final set at 14-14.

Kalamazoo Christian outscored Buchanan 11-5 the rest of the way to pick up the victory.

Despite the loss, it was another outstanding season for the Bucks, who went undefeated in regular-season matches in the Lakeland Conference before going undefeated at the league tournament to claim the undisputed title. Buchanan also successfully defended its Division 3 District championship.

“It’s very sad when you end a season with a team like this, but I am very proud of them for all of their accomplishments all season,” Bossert said.

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